ecb has had to identify the most effective policy tools for repairing these disruptions, while remaining within its mandate. financial integration is clearly in the interests of the market and it is strongly supported by the post - trade harmonisation initiatives that are taking place within the eu at the legislative, operational and business levels. these initiatives all aim to remove national barriers and thus reduce the fragmentation of the european post - trade landscape. the integration of market infrastructure, the harmonisation agenda triggered by t2s and the regulatory framework are the key elements of a coordinated harmonisation effort that complements and supports financial integration. bis central bankers ’ speeches it is through this lens that the topic of today ’ s conference should be analysed. key questions include : how can we contribute to improving post - trade harmonisation? what will this process change? and what actions can we take to benefit from it? the speakers will give us their answers and explore the various harmonisation initiatives, linking them with changes in the regulatory framework and in market infrastructure. last may, i participated, along with some of you, in the signing of the contractual agreements between the eurosystem and those csds that had decided to participate in t2s. i stressed that the fundamental objective of t2s is to contribute to making europe a better place to invest. let me say that this objective is not unique to t2s. it is the objective of all the harmonisation efforts that are being undertaken in the post - trade field, by all parties. it is definitely a joint effort, and what i see is not just the commitment of public authorities at the european or national level, but also the commitment of market participants, csds and ccps. i am sure that we all share the same goal, namely making europe stronger and more attractive for both domestic and foreign investment, thus stimulating and sustaining growth. through the coordinated action of so many stakeholders, financial markets will become safer, more transparent and, therefore, more efficient and integrated. dismantling legal and operational barriers, which is the aim of current eu legislative proposals and new infrastructure such as t2s, will benefit those who adapt their business models to a more competitive landscape. it is important to highlight that the benefits of t2s will be fully achieved if the current harmonisation efforts are successfully implemented at the european level and especially at the national level. let me be specific here by giving you a few examples. in terms of infrastructure, t2s is the necessary

peter praet : preserving monetary accommodation in times of normalisation speech by mr peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, on " herausforderungen fur die europaische geldpolitik 2019 " at 33. internationales zinsforum 2018, frankfurt am main, 26 november 2018. * * * introduction in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, central banks have successfully fended off deflationary forces and supported economic recovery. 1 they have brought down policy rates to their effective lower bound and, importantly, have made use of a broad set of unconventional monetary policy measures in pursuit of their statutory objectives. in advanced economies, monetary policies have borne fruit, but their monetary policy cycles clearly differ substantially, reflecting different stages of recovery and degrees of progress towards achieving the central bank ’ s statutory objectives. in a number of places, central banks have already tightened their monetary policy stance ; unconventional monetary policy measures have been wound down and policy rates have been gradually increased. in the euro area, however, significant monetary policy stimulus is still needed to support the further build - up of inflationary pressures and headline inflation developments over the medium term. at the meeting of the ecb ’ s governing council in june, we gave an important signal of a normalisation of our policy instruments. we communicated our anticipation that, subject to incoming data confirming our medium term inflation outlook, we would end net purchases under our asset purchase programme ( app ) after december 2018. today i would like to address our key challenge in normalising our monetary policy instruments : preserving monetary accommodation, while switching back from net asset purchases to forward guidance on policy rates as the main instrument to steer our monetary policy stance. while this rotation proceeds, we will continue to operate with multiple, complementary instruments, including our policy of reinvesting the principal payment of securities purchased under the app. the state of the euro area economy following more than five years of increasingly broad - based economic expansion in the euro area, recent developments point to some loss of growth momentum. preliminary data show that euro area real gdp expanded by 1. 7 % year on year in the third quarter of 2018, down from 2. 2 % in the second quarter. the slowdown in euro area economic growth since the start of the year has reflected in no small part a retreat from the strong growth of 2017. one - off country - specific or sector - specific factors have also contributed to slowing production in recent months. but factors related to