and since sweden joined the eu in 1995, the international perspective has become increasingly important. this has led me to several international assignments. 1 in the last two years before i returned to the riksbank i was managing director of the swedish bankers ’ association, a trade organisation for banks in sweden. this involved a readjustment as my perspective was now from inside the banking sector. one of the issues that i pursued in my role as managing director of the swedish bankers ’ association was that swedish banks should be competitive in a european context. so, how has my background shaped my view of my new job as a member of the executive board of the riksbank? a marked change since i last worked at the riksbank is sweden ’ s increased dependence on developments abroad. one could also say that what i primarily “ bring with me ” from the different perspectives of my earlier working life – the supervisory i was, for example, a member of the basel committee from 2003 to 2009 and chaired the committee of european banking supervisors ( cebs ) – which was the forerunner of the european banking authority ( eba ) – in 2008 – 2009. bis central bankers ’ speeches perspective, the international perspective and the banking - sector perspective – is this realisation of the increase in sweden ’ s international dependence. monetary policy – my view sweden is what we usually call a small, open economy. this means that our economy cannot be seen in isolation as we are highly dependent on the world around us – a factor that it is important to take into account, not least in monetary policy. sweden – a small, open economy the situation in sweden in recent years reflects our great dependence on the outside world ; exports make up approximately 50 per cent of our gdp. 2 the global financial crisis of 2008 – 2009 thus had a dramatic impact on us and contributed to the largest fall in gdp in sweden since world war ii. when global economic activity recovered in 2010, growth was instead the highest for 40 years ( see slide 2 ). but this is history now. over the last 12 months in particular, the european debt crisis has had a considerable impact on economic development. and sweden is a part of europe – not just geographically but economically too. a majority of our goods exports go to europe and over 35 per cent to the euro area ( see slide 3 ). the weak development of the swedish economy during the fourth quarter of last year also reflects a dramatic fall in exports. let me therefore comment on the situation in europe, as

macroprudential supervision should be divided is now being studied by the financial crisis commission. some guidance can be taken from the european systemic risk board ( esrb ). the esrb was set up in early 2011 to manage macroprudential policy at the eu level. however, the body has no binding instruments ; it can instead issue warnings and recommendations to various players. since its inception, the board has issued three public recommendations. 8 one of these addresses how macroprudential policy should be organised at the national level. the esrb proposes that national legislation should be passed to appoint a body with responsibility for macroprudential policy and that this body could in turn consist of one or several institutions. at the same time, the esrb stresses that the central banks should play a leading role in macroprudential policy. i think that there is a lot to be said for this, even from the point of view of the situation in sweden. a lot of the analysis of macroprudential policy issues is already conducted at the riksbank, and there are also clear links between monetary policy and macroprudential policy. while awaiting further guidance on how the work with macroprudential policy should be organised in sweden, the riksbank and finansinspektionen have formed a temporary collaboration council. the idea is that this council should act as a forum for discussion and the exchange of information with regard to preventive work in the field of financial stability. the council should be seen a first step towards creating robust macroprudential policy. but talk alone is not enough ; we must also show that we can take action. i am really looking forward to playing my part in this work together with my colleagues at the riksbank. see sveriges riksbank, ( 2011 ) : “ appropriate capital ratios in major swedish banks – an economic analysis ” these demands relate to the core tier 1 capital ratio that is the ratio between equity and risk - weighted assets. see http : / / www. riksbank. se / en / press & published / press / press releases / 2011 / new capital requirements for swedish banks. see http : / / www. esrb. europa. eu / recommendations / html / index. en. html. bis central bankers ’ speeches concluding thoughts i have worked in the financial sector for the last 35 years, and for most of that time with financial regulation, supervision and crisis management. i have experienced the development of