. stability forum, which prepared its final report on strengthening the resilience of markets and institutions for the meeting of the g7 finance ministers last week. 2 in particular, the report calls for strengthening the basel ii capital requirements ( particularly for structured credit products and securitisation activities ), enhanced liquidity risk management, the effective prudential oversight of relevant risks, tighter standards for valuation and transparency, and changes in the role and use of credit ratings. further policy recommendations include strengthening the authorities ’ responsiveness to risk and improving coordination, as well as enhancing the arrangements for central banking operations in crisis situations. as you have noticed, the responses have been swift, both at the eu and global level, and are highly consistent with each other. this reflects the strong common understanding among the authorities on the key issues that need to be addressed over the coming months. the ecb is strongly supportive of these initiatives and will contribute to the pertinent work. i firmly believe that the international cooperation between the authorities will continue to foster financial integration, development and stability. iv the role of financial integration let me finally reflect on financial integration in europe, a challenge currently faced by both the private sector and the authorities. history has shown that the tendency towards national retrenchment may occur in times of uncertainty. i would like to use this occasion to stress the importance of continued financial integration in europe. besides improving efficiency, financial integration will make a marked contribution to stability in the long term. integrated markets reinforce the shock - absorption capacity of the system, as they are more liquid and offer better opportunities for risk diversification. the eurosystem is strongly committed to fostering financial integration. as an example, i would like to mention three key projects in the area of market infrastructures that have progressed significantly over recent months. first, the european payments landscape reached an important milestone last november, when target2, the eurosystem ’ s single shared platform for payments, was successfully launched. another of the eurosystem ’ s projects, target2 - securities, aims at concentrating securities and cash settlement in europe on an efficient, single platform. the private sector has contributed considerably to the planning and design of these systems. for example, last year, around 300 professionals from over 90 institutions played a large role in the formulation of the user requirements for target2 - securities. finally, the single euro payments area, or sepa, is of utmost importance to the integration of retail banking markets in particular. the project

gertrude tumpel - gugerell : building and preserving trust – challenges for the financial community speech by ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at a meeting of the international chamber of commerce commission on banking technique and practice, athens, 15 - 16 april 2008. * * * introduction a dinner speech should fulfil two criteria : it should not spoil the mood of the guests, and it should not be too long. given that i will be talking about financial sector developments, this will be a very difficult task, but i will try my best. i am delighted to be able to share my thoughts with you tonight and would like to thank the organisers for inviting me to do so. the international chamber of commerce has a long history of establishing international standards. i very much welcome this setting of standards, as it is the motor of further financial integration, efficient banking and sound management practices. however, in the light of the ongoing financial market turmoil, more rigorous thinking about banks ’ risk taking and risk mitigation could be on the agenda for the years to come. in my speech tonight, i will talk from a euro area and ecb perspective. first, i will elaborate on the economic outlook for the euro area. second, i will explain the clear distinction that we at the ecb, as well as many other central banks, make between our decisions on the level of the key interest rates and the provision of liquidity to banks. taking a longer - term perspective, it is clear that both the private sector and the authorities worldwide will have to undergo fundamental changes in their modes of operation. third, i will therefore give you my view on the challenges facing the private sector and then describe the follow - up responses of international institutions and authorities. i will close with a few words on the importance of continued progress in furthering financial integration in europe. i euro area economic outlook, monetary policy stance, and the ecb ’ s market operations the financial turmoil has affected the global economy. so far, however, the effect on the euro area economy appears to have been limited, the fundamentals of the euro area economy are sound. the latest information on economic activity confirms the picture of moderate but ongoing growth. looking ahead, both domestic and foreign demand are expected to support real gdp growth in 2008. although growth in the world economy is moderating, it is expected to remain resilient, benefiting in particular from strong growth