a reform of banking structures in the eu. thinking about all the work that has been done in order to reform banking regulation on both sides of the atlantic, it would be unfortunate if the regulations would turn out to be ineffective due to international loopholes of regulatory arbitrage. therefore, regulatory convergence should definitely remain on the agenda. it is perhaps less important what forms and forums are used to advance it. thank you very much for your attention! bis central bankers ’ speeches

of the same package was membership of gatt ( general agreement on tariffs and trade ), which meant a reduction in tariff barriers and a commitment to implementing the principles of free trade. the impact of membership of these global economic organizations was not restricted to foreign trade alone but had a deep influence on the whole of finnish society. a convertible currency and diminishing customs barriers gradually brought finnish prices in line with international markets. the gradual deregulation of foreign trade initiated a major restructuring of finnish industry and focused the nation ’ s efforts on improving national productivity and competitiveness. together with later steps towards free trade, they transformed finland into a modern industrialized country, and made it possible to raise finnish living standards to the western european level. in view of finland ’ s position as a country defeated in the war, its membership of the imf came at a relatively early time. neutral sweden delayed its application for a long time and joined the bretton woods institutions a full three years after finland. but they could afford being out better than finland could. finland joined the imf while the fund still had relations with the soviet bloc. the relations broke off by the end of the 1940 ’ s. whether soviet objections would have prevented finland ’ s membership if its application had been delayed is hypothetical, but cannot be ruled out. from the perspective of finland ’ s reputation in the world, and very much in the eyes of our northern american friends, it was a definitive plus to be a member of club of market economies. part of a country ’ s reputation is based on your reference group, and for finland, it was the imf and the nordic constituency. * * * let me now turn to my third and final theme, the european integration project. again for reasons of foreign policy, finland had to remain outside the organization for european economic cooperation, which was founded to channel marshall aid to the participating states bis central bankers ’ speeches in europe. it was only 1in 1969 that finland joined the oecd, the successor organization of the oeec. not receiving marshall aid constituted a heavy economic loss for finland. while for example norway and denmark received, in various forms 255 and 273 million dollars respectively, finland had to pay even higher war reparations to the soviet union. it is important to remember that the american administration explicitly wanted to promote cooperation between the former enemies in europe. one should not underestimate the stimulus given by the us to the project of european integration. there were even secret funds from