glenn stevens : australia, new zealand and the international economy address by mr glenn stevens, governor of the reserve bank of australia, to the transtasman business circle business luncheon, sydney, 21 october 2008. i thank clare noone for very able assistance in preparing this address. * * * in les carlyon ’ s gallipoli, a conversation is recounted in which a turkish soldier is said to have asked some new zealand prisoners why it was that they had come so far, voluntarily, to fight a war in europe. they apparently replied that they had expected it to be rather like playing a game of rugby. it is not recorded how australians answered the same question ( perhaps they could not decide which code of football was most apt ). but they certainly also went in a spirit of optimism. that optimism was soon a casualty of war. optimism seems also to have been a casualty of recent financial events abroad, as outcomes have been rather unlike what the sophisticated modern set of institutions and markets were supposed to have delivered. many have observed that the world faces the most serious international financial crisis since the 1930s. the world has, of course, experienced many crises, of various kinds over the decades, not least the one to which the anzacs responded. these were often, in terms of potential and actual human misery, far more perilous than today ’ s financial dislocation. nonetheless, the situation is very serious. it is up to policy - makers and private market participants to put the system back together, without the excesses that built up over the past years, so that it can serve its proper function : facilitating trade and genuine investment flows, in the process supporting economic growth. for this audience, i had intended to talk about the australian and new zealand economies – noting some of their similarities and differences, and common interests. given the circumstances, i will touch briefly on those issues, and then devote some time as well to talking about our shared interests in getting the global financial system back into shape. australia and new zealand it is stating the obvious that the two countries have a lot in common, dating back at least to james cook. we share the british system of laws and custom, the historical relative geographical isolation from “ old ” europe, an increasing orientation towards asia, and generally an outward - looking mentality reflecting small economic size. notwithstanding that australia ’ s gdp is seven times that of new zealand, we still see ourselves as small. there is a significant amount of grass - roots integration

denis beau : the euro area sovereign debt markets in the crisis role and impact on financial stability perspectives speech by mr denis beau, first deputy governor of the bank of france, at the risk live 2021, 7 june 2021. * * * the demand and supply environment in which european sovereign debt markets operate has changed over the last years and is still changing : 1. firstly, liquidity in the financial system has increased, both in terms of excess reserves held by commercial banks and deposits held by the non - financial sector, notably corporates, whose considerable increase in gross debt has so far largely been offset by a similar rise of liquid assets on aggregate ; 2. secondly, central banks have strengthened their presence in the secondary sovereign debt market. this is a common and global feature. the eurosystem for instance, has reinforced its accommodative policy stance notably by stepping up its asset purchases of public sector securities under the pandemic emergency purchase programme ( pepp ) while continuing those under the asset purchase programme ( app ). this implies that a large proportion of the stock of some governments ’ debt - for the major currencies - is currently held by central banks ; 3. a third obvious factor lies in the significant increase in sovereign debt issuances since last year, as european countries implemented substantial fiscal measures to cushion the economic impact of the covid crisis and foster a subsequent recovery. all in all, euro area governments issued close to eur 1 trillion in net debt in 2020. it is also worth noting that common debt issued under the sure programme ( support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency ) and even more so the recovery fund will make the european union one of the largest debt issuers in europe relative to national sovereign debt issuers over the coming years. these changes do not seem to have altered the good functioning of the euro zone sovereign market. on the contrary faced with the economic and financial shocks triggered by the corona virus pandemic, they have fared well and proved resilient. they have consequently strongly helped, with the banking system, governments and the eurosystem to implement forceful policies that have proved effective to help the private sector to absorb those shocks. in my initial remarks today i would like to highlight some dimensions of this resilience, looking in turns to bond and the repo market but also highlight a few vulnerabilities and point of attention from a financial stability standpoint that the role and functioning of eurozone sovereign markets during the crisis has