.. the debate is ongoing. nothing has been decided yet. and what do you recommend? we have not exhausted our options. qe is expected to continue until september 2016, at least. our monetary policy is medium - term oriented. we are already taking stock of what has been done so far and what remains to be done. and we are making decisions for the future based on the marginal effectiveness of the options we have available to us. given that a high number of securities have been purchased, if we stopped the programme overnight it would cause a " cliff, effect ", that is, a sharp drop in liquidity. we must manage the programme in such a way as to avoid that situation occurring in the markets, independent of pure monetary policy considerations. the other option referred to in malta concerns a lowering of the eurosystem deposit facility rate. the negative rate of – 0. 20 %, in place since 2014, was supposed to be a floor. why should the ecb change its mind? negative rates, with which we have limited experience, have multiple consequences. some are positive, others less so. they have, for instance, an influence on the exchange rate, which, as you know, is not a monetary policy objective. however, it is a very important transmission channel for prices and growth. other countries have made use of that instrument, although bis central bankers ’ speeches they are generally smaller, open economies in which the exchange rate plays an important role. it is highly likely that the us federal reserve system will increase its rates in december. that possibility has already affected the euro - dollar exchange rate. could that exempt the ecb from taking action? our discussion does not hinge upon the decisions of the federal reserve system. and i would remind you that the exchange rate is not a monetary policy objective. our decision will be based on the development of the situation in europe, which can of course be influenced by a change of direction by the fed. however, like the changing price of oil, this is something we don't have control over. european banking supervision, under the authority of the ecb, has got off to a good start. all that remains to be put in place to complete banking union is a european deposit guarantee scheme. does germany's opposition to the plan worry you? when you have a single system of banking supervision, it is logical to have, in the long term, a deposit guarantee system that makes the consequences of supervisory failure a shared concern

willem f duisenberg : the euro. our money speech delivered by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, at the euro 2002 information campaign hosted by suomen pankki ( bank of finland ) in helsinki on 17 september 2001. * * * ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here today. before i proceed with my speech, i would like to express my sincere condolences and those of the governing council of the european central bank to all those whose lives were touched by last week ’ s terrorist attacks in the united states of america. the attacks were so horrific – and tragic – that we are talking about the world being a different place now. that may be so. but life – and that includes business life – has to, and will, go on. i would like to emphasise that the eurosystem stands ready to support the normal functioning of markets and relevant operational systems if the need arises. the governing council reaffirmed its support at its meeting last thursday. in this context, the eurosystem conducted liquidity - providing fine tuning operations last week. the ecb also agreed last week on a swap arrangement with the federal reserve system to facilitate the functioning of the financial markets and to provide liquidity in dollars. the eurosystem is co - ordinating its activity with the federal reserve of the united states and the world ’ s other major central banks. furthermore, as a mark of respect, the european union held a day of mourning last friday. and as a gesture of solidarity, we withdrew all tv commercials and print advertisements by the euro 2002 information campaign from the media on that day. let me now turn to the subject of this conference, the euro 2002 information campaign. the conference is being hosted by suomen pankki and it is one of the last ones in the campaign being conducted by the european central bank ( ecb ) and the twelve national central banks of the euro area. tomorrow, the banca d ’ italia, and in one month ’ s time, the bank of greece will conclude this series of conferences, which has brought together more than 5, 000 key actors in the euro cash changeover process. they have benefited from the exchange of views and information, for they have been able to enhance their own preparations for the cash changeover. moreover, the media attending these conferences have made the public more aware of the impending introduction of the euro banknotes and coins. my colleagues on the executive board and