banks. the single resolution mechanism will make it easier to perform crisis management of cross - border banks. when fully phased - in, the single supervisory and resolution mechanisms will act as an insurance scheme for financial enterprises and provide a better guarantee of equal treatment of the creditors of distressed banks across the eu. * * * new international liquidity standards are another area that due to our special danish financial architecture has attracted considerable attention. since the basel committee ’ s first consultation paper on new international liquidity standards was published in 2009, both the authorities and the sector have had a very special interest in the liquidity of danish mortgage bonds. on the basis of a detailed data set compiled by the danish financial supervisory authority for all transactions in danish government and mortgage bonds, danmarks nationalbank has analysed liquidity in these two markets before, during and after the financial crisis. in this connection, we have worked closely with experts from the copenhagen business school and from the bis. our results, which we published in 2010 and 2012, show unequivocally that highly liquid danish mortgage bonds were by and large as liquid as government bonds during the crisis. at the eu level, the european banking authority in 2013 performed a similar empirical analysis with virtually the same outcome. now we are awaiting the european commission ’ s decision. seen from danmarks nationalbank ’ s point of view, a liquidity buffer should be welldiversified, and it should be empirically well - documented what such a buffer may include. in that context, the treatment of government bonds in the financial regulation is a bit of a paradox. government bonds from all eu member states may freely be included, without being risk - weighted and without any diversification requirement. this is puzzling, given that the eu treaty prohibits the public sector from gaining privileged access to financial institutions. in danmarks nationalbank ’ s opinion, thorough empirical analyses with high credibility provide a basis for determining that liquid danish mortgage bonds should be classified as extremely high quality liquid assets. mortgage bonds can contribute to giving financial enterprises a well - diversified portfolio of liquid assets. we will maintain this point of view, irrespective of the eu outcome. on the other hand, no true horror scenario can be conjured up for denmark if the eu – despite solid empirical evidence to the contrary – chooses not to classify mortgage bonds as extremely high quality liquid assets. yes, there will be a price to pay. but no, it will not bring about the downfall of mortgage banks,

was at a low level and it would be difficult to obtain new labour. as a result, productivity developed weakly during 2001. compared with earlier economic downturns, the decline in productivity was modest. now that companies have begun to utilise more effectively the labour they had retained, we can see that productivity has increased by 2. 6 per cent during the first half of this year, compared with the equivalent period last year. the fact that a large part of the increase in productivity in the 1990s can be attributed to certain industrial sectors, such as the it and telecommunications sector, whose relative significance has declined, indicates that productivity will grow at a more modest rate in future. however, a continued macroeconomic stability that facilitates long - term decision - making, a higher level of education during the 1990s and certain improvements in competitive pressure indicate that productivity growth can be higher in future than during the 1970s and 1980s. future challenges for wage formation the municipal workers'union's termination of its collective wage agreement for 450 000 members before the third year and the demand for relative wage changes entail touchstone for wage formation. the union has for a long period watched its wages situation deteriorate in relation to industrial workers and other groups in the public sector. during the previous bargaining rounds, however, the lo unions were agreed that the municipal workers'union should receive higher wage increases than the other member unions in order to improve its relative wages. however, the union is dissatisfied with the outcome so far, which it claims has given only 0. 4 percentage points above the wage increases achieved through collective bargaining. this union's members are currently among those with the lowest wages in the labour market, with an average wage of approximately sek 16 000. the municipal workers'union's wage demands are not in themselves a threat to the inflation target, as long as other groups in the labour market are prepared to stand back in favour of this union's members. however, there is a risk that other trade unions will follow their example and also demand higher wages. approximately 70 per cent of the employees in trade and industry have the possibility of renegotiating their agreements during the final year of the agreement. already, there have been demands for compensation if the municipal workers'union members should be given higher wages. however, several trade unions, such as metall ( the swedish metalworkers'union ) and sif ( whitecollar workers'union ), whose agreements cover approximately 300 000 employers, have