 It's my pleasure to welcome you to the third annual conference of the European Systemic Risk Board. The EU economy has been growing now for more than five years. By ensuring price stability, monetary policy contributes to this growth being sustainable. There is also an important contribution to be made by macro prudential policy. By applying appropriate tools in a timely fashion, policy makers can help prevent the incipient build-up of financial imbalances. ESRB plays an important role in supporting successful macro prudential policy in Europe. It provides a forum to collectively discuss emerging risks and vulnerabilities. Moreover, authorities can learn from each other by sharing experiences of using macro prudential instruments and so enable more effective implementation. Authorities are willing to use the tools at their disposal, yet progress is still needed along two dimensions. The growth and importance of the known bank financial sector requires commensurate additions to the policy toolkit. Policy makers also need access to and the ability to process and understand high quality data to underpin their decisions. Since the new EU prudential rules for banks entered into force at the start of 2014, policy makers have been proactive in using macro prudential tools to address emerging areas of risk. In particular, member states have taken steps to address developments in the real estate sector. By now, 21 member states have at least one macro prudential measure in place that is targeted at the residential real estate sector. 11 have activated policies for the commercial real estate sector. Direct in the targeted nature with which macro prudential policy can be applied, some countries have considered varying implementation by geographical area to strengthen the impact on local hotspots. These policy actions have helped mitigate movements in real estate prices. Authorities have also activated their tools to require banks to increase capital. These member states have announced an increase in the counter cyclical buffer rate since the start of this year. Once these announcements all enter into force, a positive buffer rate will apply in eight member states. Macro prudential tools have also been used to address structural risks, with 12 member states now having a systemic risk buffer in place. Critical risks can vary greatly in nature, and this buffer provides authorities with a flexible tool that can address a wide variety of long-term non-cyclical risks. Its use accordingly differs across member states, applying in some to all banks and all exposures and in others to only a subset of banks or a subset of domestic exposures. Macro prudential instruments in the U.R. for the most part targeted for or at the banking sector, given the predominance of bank-based finance at the time that the initial response to the global financial crisis was designed. Yet, non-bank finance is playing an increasingly important role in financing the economy. Just a few numbers, the shadow banking sector accounts for around 40% of the EU financial system today, with total assets of just over 42 trillion euros. As the capital market union progresses, the role of non-bank finance is expected to increase even further. Policymakers need a comprehensive macro prudential toolkit to act in case existing risks migrate outside the banking sector or new risks emerge. And that means widening the toolkit so that policymakers are able to effectively confront risks emerging beyond the banking sector. Macro prudential tools should deal with liquidity risks, and those risks associated with leverage among some types of investment funds. Fund managers themselves also need to be given a broader range of tools to better manage such risks. The wider toolkit includes macro prudential tools for insurance. Indeed, at the SRB general board this morning, we discussed what type of tools might usefully complement existing insurance regulation. Policymakers' ability to act hinges crucially on the availability of high quality data. Data allow policymakers to identify, analyze and quantify emerging risks. Data also provide policymakers with the necessary knowledge to be able to target and calibrate their tools and to be aware of possible spillovers or attempts to circumvent regulations. Yet, gaps exist. Scarcity of accurate and timely data that are compatible across the EU impedes analysis and monitoring of, for example, real estate markets. Our initiatives are underway to harmonize definitions and improve data availability, including by the SRB. But progress is slower than we might wish. We required more detailed understanding of the inner workings of significant parts of the EU's shadow banking system to assess whether or not transactions are associated with an increase in risk or in vulnerabilities. For example, real estate funds can use derivatives both to hedge exchange rate risks, but also to gain market exposure. Some countries, notably Ireland, have initiated detailed national data collection to further their understanding in this field. Discovering the increasing complex and interconnected financial system involves at the very least detailed granular transactions data. But in order to have the full picture, it is vitally important to be able to link data across markets, instruments and counterparties. This requires accelerating efforts towards greater data standardization at the global level, building on the successful use of legal entity identifier. Policymakers need to invest in adequate infrastructure and in analytical tools. The derivatives data that have become available through the European Market Infrastructure Regulation Alliance, called AMIR, show the importance of such an investment. This is big data. It consists of approximately 100 million observations per day, each containing nearly 250 attributes, amounting to about one terabyte of daily information. The ESRB's first foray into this wealth of information focused on analyzing data provided by a single trade repository for a single day for the three largest derivatives markets, interest rates, foreign exchange and credit. At that time, the preparation of the data alone took the researchers involved in this work several months. In technology, collaboration between national authorities, ESMA, the ECB and the SRB, as well as standardization, now permit the data to be prepared in seconds. That investment is paying off. The granularity of AMIR data help us understand, for example, the remarkable reduction in the outstanding notional amount of credit default swaps contracts from 61.2 trillion US dollars at the end of 2007 to 9.4 trillion US dollars at the end of 2017. The analysis uncovered a high concentration of notional volumes in a few market participants and a tightly knit structure of OTC derivatives markets. These features provide substantial netting opportunities. Some 75% of notional was found to be composed of redundant trades that could be offset. Many of these redundant trades have been eliminated over the past decade through portfolio compression, a process that reduces gross exposures and hence counterparty risk without changing the net position. To further leverage the data, the SRB is broadening its cooperation beyond its member institutions. The ECB and the SRB have created a program to develop novel analytical methods and to foster interaction between the policymaking and the research communities. More in-depth analysis also benefits the private sector. While each reporting firm knows its own transactions, no firm has a picture of the market as a whole. By disseminating the analysis of the AMIR data, the ESRB provides individual institutions with a complete view of the market in which they transact, thereby facilitating the private sector to reduce vulnerabilities by itself. Let me conclude, policymakers across Europe have proven willing to use macroprudential policy to address emerging risks and vulnerabilities. These measures have helped counter the buildup of risks, but continued monitoring and assessment remain necessary to be able to act timely and appropriately to preserve financial stability. Yet, as the financial system moves to a greater use of market-based finance, authorities require a commensurate set of data to identify risks and vulnerabilities and tools to effectively address them. Financial stability analysis is also entering new fields. This conference will highlight that the use of the AMIR data I mentioned is part of a wider endeavor to apply artificial intelligence and big data tools to identify risks to financial stability. The conference will also consider the role of macroprudential policy in sustainable finance such that the financial system contributes to sustainable growth. I hope that when you return to your institutions after this conference, you will feel inspired by the new methods of analysis and the possibilities macroprudential tools provide. On that note, I am pleased to open this third annual conference of the European Systemic Risk Board. Thank you.