high. 5. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, i began my speech with a joke about how to change light - bulbs in europe. as you might know, traditional light - bulbs are increasingly being phased out in the european union. this is a sign of the changing times we are living in. but not everything has to change. proven concepts such as central bank independence should be preserved. nevertheless, the most important point of my speech is that we all share the same objective : a prosperous european union and a stable single currency. this is what unites us and keeps us going. and as i said in the beginning : only together can france and germany solve the current crisis. and as the largest economies in europe they already contribute significantly through the rescue mechanisms. stabilizing monetary union requires that both countries are economically and politically strong. but it also requires a common approach. a common approach that is suited to tackling the underlying causes of the crisis. at the national level, this should include consolidation of public finances and structural reforms. but that is certainly not enough. we also have to improve the framework of monetary union. this includes reestablishing market mechanisms and the liability of investors for their decisions at all levels : we need mechanisms that allow banks to fail without triggering a systemic crisis – a well - designed banking union would be a step in the right direction. we also need mechanisms that allow states not to be bailed out without triggering a systemic crisis – this includes, for instance, the introduction of capital requirements for government bonds and caps on banks ’ exposure visa - vis single countries. thus, there are many challenges we have to master and many problems we have to solve. this makes it necessary for us to share our ideas and discuss those issues where we have different opinions. in my speech i have tried to shed some light on my ideas, now i ’ m looking forward to discussing them with you. thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

carl - ludwig thiele : rmb initiative – one year after start of clearing speech by mr carl - ludwig thiele, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the european - chinese banking day during the 18th euro finance week, frankfurt am main, 16 november 2015. * * * ladies and gentlemen i am delighted to be speaking about such an interesting topic at this year ’ s europeanchinese banking day. at last year ’ s china day, we celebrated the first rmb transactions processed by the rmb clearing bank in frankfurt. so how do things stand now, one year on, with regard to the development of the rmb and the clearing of rmb transactions? development of the rmb hub in frankfurt china has been experiencing an enormous economic upturn since the end of the 1970s, and has now become the second - largest economy in the world. in just one generation, therefore, china has made the quantum leap from donkey carts to high - speed transrapid trains. the importance of the chinese economy to the world economy is growing visibly. six years ago, its share in global gross domestic product was roughly 9 % ; this year, it looks set to hit 14 %. given the ever growing importance of the real economy, the chinese government has for some years now been pursuing a policy of cautiously opening up the financial market and is endeavouring to gradually internationalise the rmb. even though the us dollar is still the most widely used currency for trade with china, the use of the rmb as a currency of account has gained significant ground in the past few years. in trade finance, the chinese currency has surpassed the euro and now occupies second place, directly after the us dollar. measured in terms of transaction values, the rmb edged up to fourth place in august in the international payment transactions ranking. according to data from swift, more than 1, 700 banks worldwide ( from a total of just over 10, 000 participants in the swift network ) clear payments in rmb. in the past, the chinese government strengthened the rmb offshore markets, giving importers outside china a means of paying in rmb. for the political leaders, this was part of the long - term strategy to open up the markets with greater convertibility of rmb while retaining the ability to exercise control. this is because clearing in the rmb offshore markets requires the appointment of a ( chinese ) rmb clearing bank. as part of this strategy, the chinese central bank