At first sight, much of the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) annual report for 2015 treads familiar territory.¹ That interest rates, at least among advanced economies, have been too low for too long has been a concern for the Basel-based institution for a number of years. The BIS has also called for banks to repair their balance sheets and governments to implement structural reforms in previous reports. As is the vocalisation that high debt and low productivity, an unbalanced recovery