the belgian authorities, too, decided to introduce this “ twin peaks model ” here as quickly and smoothly as possible. needless to say, i am well aware that the macrodimension does not stop at our country ’ s frontiers, while the micro - supervision of cross - border groups also requires close multinational coordination. so, i strongly support the recent proposal to set up, at eu level, a european systemic risk board ( esrb ) and european system of financial supervisors ( esfs ), which are called on to cooperate closely in order to bring more comprehensiveness and consistency to national and international supervision. macro - prudential analysis must rely on rapid, direct and comprehensive access to data on individual developments liable to affect global financial stability while, in turn, this analysis must feed the micro - prudential control. it would be a pity if our efforts to improve this flow of information in our respective countries were to be impeded by hurdles at the international level. ladies and gentlemen, crisis management has been effective : many banks have been rescued, the abrupt rise in risk aversion has been countered and it seems that financial markets are returning to normal and that the fall in trade and output has come to an end. for the emergency measures not to nurture renewed financial excesses, they have to be withdrawn in a timely and gradual way and, above all, backed up by structural reforms. better regulation and supervision are needed. great haste in regulating complex matters would probably not be wise, but the political resolve for reforms should not lose momentum. thank you for your attention.

encouraged excessive leverage and risk taking and excessive concentration of exposures among major financial institutions ”. the insistence on the words “ insufficient ”, “ inadequate ” and “ excessive ” shows that, in particular, more and better buffers are expected. the crisis has given rise to a unique momentum for profound reform of the financial sector. we should not let this momentum slip away. i know full well that the return to more simplicity will be anything but simple. of course, i realise that a lot of technical issues have still to be resolved. and i admit that it will be important to introduce the new regulations in a timely manner so as not to repress the smooth flow of credit which will be required to support the nascent recovery. in fact, while there is much discussion at the moment on the design of the exit strategy from the public support measures, we should be equally aware of the need for an entry strategy for moving over to more comprehensive regulatory requirements. but all these considerations should not be an excuse for prevarication and delaying the essential decisions to take for the design of a more comprehensive framework. the crisis has seriously dented belief in the ability of the markets to regulate themselves. while it would be illusory to dispense with the assistance of the market in designing new supervisory and regulatory arrangements, these market consultations have more often that not been used by many financial institutions as a channel to lobby for softer regulation, certainly in the past and probably still today. the rapid spread of the financial crisis has also served as a lesson for supervisors. it has shown that the root of the problems was not linked to any specific difficulties faced by individual institutions but, rather, to the gradual build - up of common risks within the system. it is now widely acknowledged that such crystallisation of risk, linked to major shifts in the correlation between financial products and markets, requires more systemically - focused oversight and regulation. to use the professional jargon, micro - prudential control, the preserve of the supervisory authorities, must be complemented by macro - prudential oversight, resorting to the expertise of central banks. to improve the symbiosis between these two approaches, a growing number of countries are adopting the so - called “ twin peaks model ” where the central bank is in charge of the full range of prudential supervision, in both its micro - and macro dimension, leaving the oversight of market integrity and investor protection to a separate institution. just a few weeks ago,