lowered – for instance, by liberalising and deregulating the self - employed professions or reducing the bureaucracy involved in business start - ups. in the world bank ’ s doing business table, germany takes 114th place in the “ ease of starting a business ” category ; in the global competitiveness index of the world economic forum, germany ranks 106th out of 144 countries, alongside the likes of ethiopia, zimbabwe, mozambique and chad, in the category on “ the number of procedures required to start a business ”. clearly, there is room for improvement there. however, it ’ s not just at the national level but also at the european level that more can be done to increase growth : achieving a single european market for services in the eu could bis central bankers ’ speeches produce similar welfare effects to those experienced when the single market for goods was created two decades ago. the creation of a digital single market, in particular, promises great benefit, as europe continues to be strongly divided along national borders in this field. at the same time, digitalisation does not only concern the services sector but also the industrial sector – just think of the keyword “ internet of things ”. incidentally, the makers of back to the future were only able to partially foresee the revolutionary changes in information and communication technology. they assumed that fax machines, walkie - talkies and pay phones would still play a major role in 2015. important stimuli can also be provided at the transatlantic level ; for example, through the ttip free trade agreement with the united states. the favourable position of the german economy today is no grounds for complacency. policymakers, the economy and society must make considerable efforts to assure continued prosperity in the future. and in the interests of future generations, the foundations must be laid today for prosperity in the future. at times, it almost seems as if economic policymakers agree with the words of groucho marx : “ why should i care about posterity? what ’ s posterity ever done for me? ”. 3. future of the european monetary union the medium - term growth prospects of the german economy also depend, of course, on an improved economic outlook in the other euro - area countries. this brings me to the second part of my presentation : the future of the monetary union. 3. 1 correcting national misalignments the euro - area crisis began approximately five years ago. although many people refer to it as the “ euro crisis ” for short, it

as well as special arrangements for rapidly reducing the primary credit rate to the federal funds rate in an emergency. we also have improved the ability of the board to approve the extension of emergency discount window credit. the federal financial agencies took immediate steps to work together to identify new vulnerabilities exposed by september 11. these efforts were coordinated under the umbrella of the president ’ s working group on financial markets, the financial and banking infrastructure information committee ( fbiic ), and, for depository institutions more specifically, the federal financial institutions examination council ( ffiec ). the agencies have implemented a duty officer program and developed communications protocols for dealing with their staffs, regulated financial institutions, and the public. we have also developed and tested facilities for secure communication among ourselves and with other agencies. the agencies that participate in fbiic, including the federal reserve, and that have direct supervisory and regulatory responsibilities for the financial sector have assessed potential system vulnerabilities. we have shared that information with the department of homeland security ( dhs ). indeed, i would like to commend the dhs for their work to share information and coordinate with the financial sector including the fbiic during the recent elevation of the threat level to orange for financial services firms in new york city, northern new jersey, and washington, d. c. the timely communications and sharing of information enabled financial - sector participants and law enforcement authorities to take steps to mitigate risks so that customers of financial services firms were able to conduct business in the usual fashion. financial - sector participants, including the financial regulators, strengthened business - resumption plans with an overall goal of ensuring the smooth operation of the financial system. previously, terrorist attacks were treated as low - probability / high - impact events affecting a single institution. as a result of september 11, industry participants are now planning for events that affect wide areas, last longer, and involve loss of life or widespread destruction of property and information assets. the process of strengthening the resilience of the financial system and, in particular, organizations that could have a systemic effect if they were disabled, is being accomplished through the existing regulatory framework. more than a year ago, in april 2003, the federal reserve, the office of the comptroller of the currency ( occ ), and the securities and exchange commission ( sec ) issued an interagency paper on sound practices to strengthen the resilience of the u. s. financial system. the paper formalizes a set of sound practices