household surveys to private datasets from credit card companies. the household finance and consumption network is a good example of what is possible when the eurosystem co - ordinates its efforts as a team. central banks around the world have either collected household data or supported the collection of such data by other institutions for a long time. the strength of the network is that it has been able to tap into that valuable expertise from many sources. household surveys on wealth date back to 1962 when the us board of governors ’ survey of consumer finances started as the survey of financial characteristics of consumers. not long thereafter, in 1965, the bank of italy started its survey of household income and wealth. those two pioneers, as i may call them, were followed later by national statistical institutes and eurosystem central banks. in the eighties, insee started its enquete patrimoine and statistics finland its survey of household wealth. in 1994 a survey of portuguese households ’ wealth and debt was conducted by the national statistical office in portugal, encouraged by the banco de portugal. in 1999 the first cyprus survey of consumer finances was launched as a joint project between the university of cyprus and the central bank of cyprus. in 2002, the bank of spain started its survey of household finances. in the same year greece launched its survey of household debt and the netherlands bank began participating in what was formerly known as the center savings survey, a survey running since 1993, and currently known as the household survey of de nederlandsche bank. throughout the work of the network, experts from these existing surveys have given their valuable advice. allow me to especially mention today ’ s keynote speaker, arthur kennickell from the board of governors of the federal reserve system. as the chief of the microeconomic surveys section he is “ the ” expert of the us survey of consumer finances with a long and deep experience in this field. he has put a relentless effort in providing the most valuable advice to the network. through the years, the network has also drawn on the expertise of academics who have provided invaluable advice and guidance throughout. some are present at the conference, such as michalis haliassos of frankfurt university who has been involved since the beginning of the project, and peter tufano of harvard business school, who volunteered to be part of the scientific committee of this conference. tomorrow, you will listen to an expert on financial literary : annamaria lusardi of dartmouth college will give a keynote lecture on how

household subpopulations. in that respect, policy makers cannot be content to just rely on aggregate numbers. aggregate statistics on the indebtedness of households can be misleading if debt is concentrated among some household groups. for instance, it poses fewer risks if it is concentrated mainly among the relatively wealthy households. in this regard, it is equally important to understand how households choose their portfolios : the risks stemming from the household sector will depend largely on how household portfolios are structured. household portfolios are prone to all sorts of biases. the home bias in equity holdings is a well - known example. well - functioning financial markets are a prerequisite for a well - functioning monetary transmission. important topics for further analyses are : what influences households in their choices of assets? what role do financial intermediaries such as banks play? what determines the risk - taking behaviour of households and what are its implications for financial stability? in the european union we are currently in the process of setting up the european systemic risk board ( esrb ), a new body responsible for the macro - prudential oversight of the financial system. it is clear that macro - prudential risks may stem not only from the balance sheets of banks or other financial intermediaries, but also from the balance sheets of households. the aggregated data of the household sector are not always sufficient to understand the magnitude and the location of these risks : they need to be complemented by distributional information. i therefore foresee that the household survey on finance and consumption will also be an important source of information for the esrb, in spite of its low frequency, especially if it can be enhanced to encompass the entire eu. monitoring of new trends my third point is that survey data are also useful to monitor new important developments. the relationship between aging, pension provision and consumption is a field of research that will become more important as european populations grow older. as of this day, many countries faced with the budgetary consequences of an aging population have already embarked on policy changes in pension provision. retirement ages are being increased and pension entitlements have changed. the micro survey data can shed light on the saving behaviour of the households when they are faced with these changes. new developments will also come from financial innovation. as households are faced with new types of assets to invest in, or with new types of debt, these innovations will have an effect on consumption smoothing. new types of debt, for instance, may reduce the importance of