see today is a globalisation process that has triggered a trend towards global clearing with increasingly large global ccps. moreover, it appears that many banks prefer indirect access to clearing services so as to comply with the clearing obligation. client clearing seems thus to be dominated by a few large global intermediaries. this concentration creates a higher degree of dependency on this small group of firms. the trend towards the globalisation of clearing has benefits and risks. on the one hand, there is greater scope for netting that allows for collateral savings, the lower cost of direct access and using ccps, and an increase in transparency for both regulators and ccps. on the other hand, there is a potential for systemic risks as ccps may become too big to fail. also, market power may push up clearing fees and restrict entry. this could create disincentives for central clearing and could undermine the efficiency gains reaped in the first place by eroding the pricing power of global dealers. there could also be cross - border regulatory frictions in the case of multiple ( and inconsistent ) national regulations, and last but not least the cross - border liquidity provision in several currencies becomes more complex. this leads me to the last and maybe most challenging “ unknown ”. given ccps ’ role as financial market utilities that has been reinforced by mandatory clearing requirements, and their increasing systemic relevance, would the world be a safer place, if ccps had been established as non - for - profit institutions? my tentative answer is no. i have outlined the importance of good risk management in ccps, and the ability to adapt to a changing market environment in terms of counterparties, products, and technologies. i am convinced that this will be better done in a market environment. but this certainly requires strong supervision, effective cooperative oversight arrangements, and setting up the right incentive structure so that ccps don ’ t lose sight of public interest, starting with the interest of their indirect members. let me conclude. central clearing will make the global financial system safer. however, it also has the potential to redistribute risk. its overall systemic effect will thus depend on the incentives for risk - taking and central clearing that accompany risk redistribution. hence the need for the official sector to provide the right incentive framework ex - ante, produce data that can help understand the distribution of risk, and tightly supervise ccps in a spirit of cooperation across jurisdictions. thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

yves mersch : monetary policy in the euro area - solid expansion with timid price pressure contribution by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, to the eurofi magazine, submitted on 21 march 2018 and published on 26 april 2018. * * * the euro area economy currently is solidly expanding and the upswing is broad - based. recent data indicate that in the near term the economy is likely to expand even faster than had been expected. the monetary policy measures introduced since 2014 have effectively supported growth and employment, with real gdp growth expected to remain consistently above potential growth in the coming years. in spite of the favourable growth dynamics, underlying inflation continues to be subdued. while our policy measures have been successful in preventing the disinflation of 2014 from spiralling into deflation and are contributing to an improved inflation outlook, an ample degree of monetary accommodation remains necessary to secure a return of inflation rates towards levels that are below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. looking ahead, the evolution of monetary policy will be firmly guided by the outlook for price stability. in this regard, the transition towards policy normalisation will begin once the governing council assesses that there has been a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation. such a judgement will be based on three criteria for inflation : convergence, confidence and resilience. convergence implies that headline inflation will need to be on track to reach levels below, but close to, 2 % within a medium - term horizon. the governing council will also need to have confidence that the upward adjustment in inflation has a high enough probability of materialising and that it can do so on a sustainable basis. thirdly, resilience, it will need to be ensured that the sustained adjustment in the path of inflation will be maintained even without additional net asset purchases. in fact, confidence has recently risen and convergence is being confirmed – partly because the temporary decline in the inflation rate has been weaker than our internal calculations had predicted when we had reduced the purchasing program from eur 60 billion to eur 30 billion. more resilience will follow eventually. still, patience and persistence with respect to our monetary policy is required. the former is necessary as it takes time for price pressures to build - up and the latter reflects the fact that the pick - up in inflation still needs to be supported by the prevailing monetary policy stance. once the governing council judges that progress towards meeting the three criteria is sufficiently advanced, our net asset purchases