mr. tietmeyer discusses emu – after the brussels summit address by the president of the deutsche bundesbank, prof. hans tietmeyer, at the spring meeting of the institute of international finance in rome on 7 / 5 / 98. i in brussels last weekend some momentous decisions were taken. now we can be sure about - the participation of eleven countries, the bilateral rates at which the participating countries will irrevocably fix the exchange rates of their currencies upon the start of monetary union, and the candidates for the offices of the president, vice - president and the other four members of the executive board. this means that the composition of the ecb governing council, in future comprising 17 members, is likewise clarified. it is, i think, advisable to distinguish between the substance of the decisions and some of the events in brussels. not everything that happened last weekend in brussels contributed to the necessary expectation that the euro will be a really supranational and depoliticised currency. i hope, however, the learning process will go on and some of the things accompanying the weekend decision will be forgotten shortly. for the future what counts most is the substance of the decisions. the suggestions with regard to the nominations of the executive board of the ecb are to be viewed favourably overall. the persons involved are acknowledged experts on monetary and banking issues, and for the most part have many years of experience in the field of monetary policy. and the reactions by the markets were clearly positive. some analysts are even talking of a “ dream - team ”. but, of course, even the most promising dream - team has to make the big points in reality. the emi has already endorsed the nomination. and we are sure : the european parliament will do the same in the next few days, so that the ecb can be established as scheduled on the first of june. ii in several respects, the brussels decisions already alter european monetary policy - making today ( and not merely in january 1999 ). the policies of the national central banks - although national responsibility still reigns, formally speaking, until the end of this year - are from now on influenced even more by european considerations. the phrase of “ de facto monetary union ” was used sometimes in the past. after all, many observers spoke of a “ de facto monetary union ” in connection with the ems back in 1991 - 92 - a notion that soon turned out to be an illusion. but during the seven -

stephen s poloz : release of the financial system review opening statement by mr stephen s poloz, governor of the bank of canada, at the press conference following the release of the financial system review, ottawa, ontario, 28 november 2017. * * * good morning. thank you for coming here to the bank of canada. senior deputy governor wilkins and i are happy to be with you to talk about the latest issue of the bank ’ s financial system review ( fsr ), which we published today. i will start with a reminder about the purpose of the fsr. in it, we identify key vulnerabilities in the financial system, which can interact with and magnify economic shocks. we monitor the evolution of these vulnerabilities, and we look at their potential implications for the financial system and economy if a significant shock were to occur. the most important vulnerabilities for the financial system remain the high level of household indebtedness and imbalances in housing markets. these vulnerabilities continue to be elevated and it will take a long time for them to return to more sustainable levels. a stronger economy and sound policies are working in the same direction to help bring about a gradual easing of these vulnerabilities, and this trend should continue. let me give you some details. since our last report in june, household debt has continued to rise more quickly than household income. borrowing for mortgages and home equity lines of credit is driving this growth. further, we see that households with the highest debt relative to their income are carrying a growing share of the total. that said, new and pending rules for housing finance should help mitigate this vulnerability. last year, the government introduced stricter rules for high - ratio mortgages — that is, where the down payment is less than 20 per cent of the value of the home. these rules are continuing to improve the quality of new high - ratio mortgages. fewer of these mortgages are being issued, particularly among highly indebted households. however, we have become increasingly concerned about low - ratio mortgages — those where the down payment is more than 20 per cent of the value of the home. we are continuing to see an increase in new low - ratio mortgages that have riskier characteristics. more of these are being taken out by highly indebted households, and a growing share of borrowers is choosing an amortization period longer than 25 years. last month, the office of