Anna Maria Tarantola: Strengthening financial stability - the contribution
of deposit insurance
Speech by Ms Anna Maria Tarantola, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, at the
conference on financial stability and the contribution of deposit insurance, Rome,
30 September 2010.
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Good morning. I would like to welcome all of you to the Bank of Italy. We are very pleased to
be able to host this year's conference on financial stability and the contribution of deposit
insurance.
1. The EU banking sector after the crisis
Three years after the onset of the financial crisis, the EU banking system has made
important strides. These have been a long and difficult three years, but positive signs are
evident. In the first half of 2010, profits rose at the major EU banks. In some cases income
was significantly higher than in 2009; other banks reporting negative results last year have
now returned to profitability. Loan impairment and bank provisions were reduced, as the
recovery in the real economy gained momentum. The EU-coordinated stress tests published
in July showed that banks have strengthened their capital base and are in a position to bear
additional losses should the macroeconomic outlook deteriorate.
However, despite these positive trends, considerable uncertainty still surrounds the banking
sector. Credit risk remains high and if, as recent signs indicate, the international recovery
decelerates, credit risk could increase further. While moderate economic growth remains the
most likely scenario for Europe, it remains vulnerable to a moderation in international trade. It
is also not ensured that bank earnings will continue to be as sustained as in past months
when they were supported by factors that may prove to be temporary: trading profits have
been falling; and net interest income, though still strong, could be negatively impacted by a
sudden flattening of the yield curve.
Especially worrisome are risks stemming from the interplay between sovereign debt
problems and fragility in the banking sector; these are particularly acute in EU countries with
large fiscal imbalances. In past months, we saw budgetary pressures having dramatic
spillover effects on bank funding in some countries; at the same time, signs of instability in the
banking sector had negative repercussions on sovereign issuers.
Bank refinancing is another major concern. EU banks will soon need to begin rollingover very
large amounts of debt. Given that public-sector requirements will also be rising, access to
market funding could become even more difficult.
In fact, we are observing greater polarisation among banks. Stronger institutions can access
the markets. Others are experiencing difficulty and remain dependent on government support
and central bank financing.
Today policy makers face a very demanding task. Dispelling market concerns over sovereign
debt risk is imperative: progress in fiscal consolidation must remain a priority for EU member
states. Yet equal attention must be devoted to supporting growth in the medium term. In
evaluating longer-term sustainability, markets are paying increasing attention to a country's
ability to generate economic growth. Therefore, to the greatest degree possible,
consolidation measures should be growthfriendly and accompanied by structural reforms in
the EU.
The goals for regulators and supervisors are no less challenging. We must safeguard the
stability of the financial sector, and rebuild its solidity, while ensuring that the provision of
credit and financial services to the economy is not impaired. Weaknesses and distortions
revealed in the crisis must be corrected, so that credit institutions can fully support economic
growth in the future.
It is essential that in coming years we have fully restored the banking sector's ability to
perform activities essential to our economies. This is possible when there is a solid and
stable system.
2. The regulatory reform: priorities ahead
A fundamental step towards achieving these objectives has been made by the Basel
Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) with the agreement on the new bank capital and
liquidity standards. The standards will markedly increase the resilience of the banking
system, by constraining the build-up of excessive leverage and maturity mismatches that
provided the fuel to this crisis. It is clear that the new rules will impose some costs - in terms
of profitability - for the banking industry. However, these costs will be compensated by the
fact that we will all (including bankers) live in a safer financial environment. Moreover, the
transition phase to the new rules has been designed so that costs can be absorbed in a
gradual manner and the recovery is not jeopardized.
The Basel agreement, for all its importance, does not however exhaust the need of reform in
the financial system. An urgent step is to solve the moral hazard problems associated with
systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), also known as the "too-big-to-fail" (TBTF)
problem.
These problems have increased as a consequence of the extraordinary public interventions
during the crisis and probably represent the most daunting legacy that regulators must now
confront. If we do not address this issue with determination, SIFIs will continue to have
incentives to engage in excessively risky activities; accurate monitoring by investors will be
much weaker than desirable, with the result that future crises may be more likely.
Finally, we must be aware that the public will not accept a repetition of the widespread
bailing-out of SIFIs that was necessary during this crisis. A clear political message has
emerged at international level (Pittsburgh G-20 meeting Sept.2009), strongly backed by the
EU, that taxpayer money should not be used again to cover bank losses.
Elaborating measures to effectively tackle "too big to fail" is now the priority of the Financial
Stability Board (FSB), which will present its recommendations to the G20 in November. The
FSB is assessing a broad range of policy options to reduce the probability and the impact of
a crisis involving SIFIs. They include inter alia the introduction of prudential instruments, such
as capital and liquidity surcharges above those agreed in Basel, the use of contingent capital
(i.e. the possibility to convert debt into equity either by statutory resolution mechanisms or by
private contractual arrangements) and the standardization and trading of OTC derivatives on
electronic platforms with clearance by central counterparties to reduce the interconnectedness
of financial institutions.
But particularly important, especially to establish the right set of incentives for SIFIs, is the
FSB's program to set up effective resolution regimes, both at the domestic and cross-border
level, to be able to manage in an orderly way the eventual failure of SIFIs.
Only if we succeed to organise a mechanism through which SIFIs are allowed to fail, while
limiting to the maximum extent the systemic risk involved, can we ensure that SIFIs behave
in a correct manner and thus reduce the probability of future crises.
The issue therefore merges into the broader question of establishing principles and tools for
an effective crisis management system, a theme that involves many aspects that will be
addressed in the rest of this conference. Let me briefly touch upon some of them.
3. Strengthening the toolbox
Role of authorities, preventive action and resolution regimes
A first crucial issue involves the role and powers of authorities. The crisis has highlighted that
the intensity and effectiveness of the supervision of SIFIs must be stepped up, particularly
with regard to both preventive action and resolution powers. This will be possible, in some
cases, only by reinforcing the mandates, independence and resources of national
supervisors.
With regard to preventive action, supervisory powers and resources must be reinforced so
that Authorities can quickly detect early signs of deterioration and intervene as soon as
possible to reduce the probability and impact of a SIFI failure. National supervisors should
have the powers to apply differentiated supervisory requirements for institutions based on the
risk they pose to the financial system. They should have the power to intervene effectively at
an early stage, to mandate changes within an institution, to prevent unsound practices and
ensure appropriate countermeasures including capital and liability restructuring.
With regard to resolution powers, an effective resolution regime must provide Authorities with
the powers and tools to wind-down a firm quickly and safely, while ensuring the continued
performance of essential financial functions and uninterrupted access of insured depositors
to their funds in order to contain systemic risk.
Authorities must possess all the tools that facilitate "gone concern" restructuring and
winddown measures, including the establishment of a temporary bridge bank to take over and
continue operating critical functions.
Cross border perspective
A second crucial aspect for an effective resolution mechanism regards cross-border
multinationals. In the past three years, cross border issues have added a layer of complexity
in dealing with bank crises. The international dimension of financial institutions increases the
scope for cross-border contagion and thus the likelihood of a systemic crisis across
countries. Moreover, reaching rapid and clear agreements at cross border level proved to be,
in some circumstances, a very complicated exercise. Perhaps this should come as no
surprise. To some extent, it is a direct consequence of the inconsistency between, on one
hand, the size, complexity and interconnectedness of large banking groups - operating far
beyond national boundaries - and, on the other hand, the enduring fragmentation of the
national legal and regulatory frameworks.
The Basel Committee recently published a report on Cross Border Resolution, which
contains a set of recommendations intended to strengthen national resolution powers and
cross-border implementation. The report underlines, inter alia, the need to further converge
on a common set of effective tools and improve information sharing in crisis management.
The report addresses the issue of complex banking group structures and recommends using
regulatory incentives when complexity could create an obstacle to an orderly and
costeffective resolution; capital or other prudential requirements should be designed to
encourage organizational structures that facilitate effective resolution.
The Financial Stability Board is also working to remove obstacles that can obstruct the
effective implementation of recovery and resolution measures in complex cross-border
institutions. It has identified four technical areas that need to be addressed: i) complexities
arising when trades are marketed, booked, funded and risk-managed in different legal
entities and jurisdictions; ii) difficulties in disentangling group structures when the parent or
lead bank has issued guarantees to support particular transactions by affiliate entities in
foreign jurisdictions; iii) the preservation of global payment operations; and iv) the adequacy
of a firm's ITC systems to provide firmwide and single legal entity information, especially to
support recovery and resolution actions.
Moreover, on the prompting of the FSB, Cross-Border Crisis Management groups have been
established worldwide for most of the largest global financial institutions. The focus of these
groups is to establish firm-specific Recovery and Resolution Plans that will help authorities
and firms handle emergency situations and enhance mutual trust among key home and host
authorities. Further progress on the recovery and resolution plans could be achieved by
reforming resolution regimes in different countries.
At EU level, it appears necessary to work in two directions. First, cooperation among
authorities must be improved in dealing with emergency situations involving cross border
groups. The June 2008 Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the financial
supervisory authorities, central banks and finance ministries of the European Union on
crossborder financial stability needs to be fully applied and strengthened. Second, we must
proceed quickly to better harmonize insolvency laws across the Union, starting with those
principles and procedures most directly connected with crisis management.
A building block of any crisis management system is the effective and efficient work of
colleges of supervisors. They are the natural body where possible and viable ways forward
on a co-ordinated approach to crisis resolution can be discussed and organised (contact
lists, stock-taking on legal and regulatory frameworks, data collection, procedural and
organisational aspects of crisis management including possible scenarios of burden sharing).
As a home supervisor, the Bank of Italy has put much effort in setting up these colleges and
making them work, coordinating the process for all cross-border groups it supervises, and
convening meetings of the Cross-Border Stability Groups and Crisis Management Teams for
Italian banking groups.
The new European Banking Authority will certainly play a crucial role in developing an
effective system to deal with crisis situations in Europe.
4. Funding the recovery or the orderly resolution. Who bears the cost?
A harmonised approach for dealing with weak or ailing institutions necessarily raises the
question, "Who shall bear the costs?".
Based on the principle that taxpayers should never again bear the burden of future financial
crises, priority clearly must always be given to private-sector solutions (including
recapitalizations, ownership transfers, purchases & assumptions), ahead of any other source
of support and certainly before taxpayer money is tapped.
However, as these options may prove insufficient or unviable in particularly serious cases,
we must also prepare valid alternatives. Various mechanisms are being discussed, including:
Haircuts
Haircuts on creditors or "bail in" instruments have been recently proposed as one of the most
promising tools for increasing the loss absorbing capacity of financial firms, beyond the
capital base. Statutory bail-in would allow authorities in a going concern situation to wipe-out
creditors, before the collapse of the firm. However, it would entail harmonizing global rules on
creditor preferences and imposing bail-in conditions on pre-existing contracts. Contractual
bail-in, on the other hand, would force institutions to issue a portion of senior debt, to be
determined by regulation, that could be either written down or converted into equity in a
public intervention procedure. There are also potential drawbacks in this option as it would
introduce a distinction between "investors" and "customers", with the latter being less
concerned about a careful monitoring of the bank. Nevertheless, it is clear that this is a route
to be further explored.
Private resolution funds
A privately-financed European Recovery Fund has also been proposed. This would be
designed to facilitate emergency medium-term funding when liquidity shocks, in distressed
capital markets, threaten banks that are otherwise solvent and profitable. It would be
financed by voluntary contribution of the top twenty European banks. Although private, the
fund would only intervene when European authorities determine that a bank needs support,
providing guarantees at market conditions. This could be an important resource for
overcoming difficulties in certain situations, but it is essential for authorities to consider the
capacity of the banking system to finance both a resolution fund and an insurance scheme;
an additional question is whether a private resolution fund would duplicate DGS that act as
"beyond pay box" instruments.
Ex-ante resolution funds
In addition, the EU Commission has recently proposed establishing a system of
EUharmonized resolution funds (COM 2010/254), aimed to facilitate the resolution of failing
institutions. The funds would be financed by imposing levies on banks. To avoid moral
hazard, these funds should be activated only as instruments of last resource, after
exhausting all private sources of financing. Within a clear resolution framework, it could
provide a useful instrument to help authorities liquidate banks in an orderly manner, by
covering administrative costs, financing the total or partial transfer of assets and/or liabilities,
or financing bridge banks.
A number of countries have recently introduced (Sweden and Hungary) or announced plans
to introduce (Germany, France and the UK) bank levies, though the objectives and
implementation schemes differ significantly. Considering the current conditions of the
financial sector and the costs that banks will incur to conform with the new capital standards,
in my opinion the timing of additional expense should be assessed carefully. However, if
such initiatives are pursued, it is important that they proceed in a coordinated manner and, in
this sense, the Commission's proposal appears to be a sensible way forward; a number of
issues, related for example to the precise scope, financing and governance of resolution
funds still need to be addressed.
The role of DGS
Deposit Guarantee Schemes should be able to absorb the impact of medium magnitude
crises or, where possible, to promptly intervene to avoid bank failures in the interest of
depositors. The more effective a DGS, the greater will be depositor confidence, reducing the
risk of bank runs and limiting contagion from banks in distress.
Much work is underway at international fora to strengthen the role of DGS. The effort to
harmonise and enhance their risk minimiser role is particularly welcomed. The contribution
that DGS can bring to open market solutions, helping to preserve the continuity of important
business activities and avoid the disruption of customer relationships, mainly in the interest of
depositors, will be increasingly important.
The important collaboration between the Basel Committee and the International Association
of Deposit Insurers (IADI), who joined forces to address a range of issues including
coverage, funding and reimbursement, resulted in the "Core Principles" focusing on, among
others, public awareness and cooperation with other safety-net participants, including central
banks and supervisors. The principles are designed to be adaptable to a broad range of
country circumstances, settings and structures.
The "Core Principles" form a non-compulsory framework for deposit insurance. However,
they are testimony of the will to establish best practices for national authorities committed to
enhance or put in place effective deposit insurance schemes.
The EU Directive on DGS
Steps taken in the EU to strengthen the regulation on DGS move in the right direction.
The Commission proposal of July 2010 aims to enhance depositor protection and
convergence of EU DGS by harmonizing scope, coverage and funding mechanisms. It raises
fixed coverage to €100,000 per depositor, significantly reduces the payout delay, and
institutes a funding mechanism based mainly on ex-ante contributions.
The proposal also explicitly provides for the preventive intervention of DGS to avoid bank
failure. There are still technical issues to be addressed, since the current proposal lacks
reference to the least cost criteria and authorisation processes. Nevertheless, the recognition
of DGS as preventive actors in helping to avert worst crisis scenarios is welcomed. It could
provide the necessary impulse for implementing this feature in EU countries where DGS
currently lack such role.
Pan-European Deposit Guarantee Scheme
In the course of recent work to strengthen the European financial system, the question has
been raised repeatedly as to whether a single pan-European deposit guarantee scheme
could be a feasible option. It would certainly allow for significant savings in administrative
costs (estimated at about € 40 million per year). Moreover, a pan-European scheme could
ensure better management of bank failures because the impact of a bank failure on a large
scheme would be smaller than on an individual Member State DGS. Furthermore, in a
crossborder banking crisis, a pan-European scheme could provide incentives for a pooled
solution in the interest of all depositors, regardless of nationality. However, owing to the
complex legal issues arising from differences in national legal frameworks and the absence,
at the moment, of an integrated European supervisory and crisis management framework,
this idea is still a longer-term project.
5. Conclusions
Let me conclude my remarks by stressing two aspects that, in my opinion, are at the core of
the issues addressed at this conference.
First, international cooperation and rule harmonization must be significantly stepped up.
Establishing an effective crisis management system, including a clear resolution framework, is
the road we must undertake to reduce the likelihood of future crises and contain their damage
should they nevertheless occur. In a context where financial institutions operate globally, we
can succeed only by increasing cooperation, coordinating action and reaching a much higher
degree of harmonization of our domestic systems. In Europe, this is of utmost importance if we
wish to strengthen the single market and ensure a level playing field for all financial actors.
Second, in the field of supervision, the harmonization of practices is at least as important as
the harmonization of rules. The introduction of a common set of rules, powers and tools
should be complemented by the development of common methodologies, among
supervisors, to assess the ongoing risks faced by cross-border banking groups and to
develop common assessment. This is essential to achieve shared decisions and would
greatly facilitate coordinated solutions in an emergency situation.
Progress must be made rapidly, now, taking advantage of the momentum in international
cooperation that has gained ground with the crisis. It would be unforgivable to remain
unprepared. It would mean confronting future emergencies from a much weaker position
than we had when this crisis first emerged. At the European level, there are encouraging
signs that we are moving in the right direction. There is increasingly greater awareness of our
interconnectedness and the response, though hesitant at first, has been more Europe, not
less. I have no doubts that the new financial supervisory architecture and the authorities that
will come into force next year will make great strides to provide the impulse and vigour to
move forward and achieve the necessary goals of this process.