Øystein Olsen, the governor of the Norges Bank, on Thursday examined whether there was a case for using interest rates to prevent a build-up of systemic risk in the financial system.

At the Finance Norway conference, Olsen said: "Higher interest rates can curb the rise in both debt and house prices during an economic upturn. But systemic risk will depend on both the vulnerabilities that accumulate internally in the banking system and the sources of risk outside the banking system. The interest