See, for instance, Haldane paper ‘The dog and the frisbee’: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/paper/2012/the-dog-and-thefrisbee.pdf?la=en&hash=4DEAA2E6D1698A1A0891153A6B4CE70F308351D7 and the European Systemic Risk Board’s paper on regulatory complexity from June 2019: https://www.esrb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/asc/esrb.asc190604_8_regulatorycomplexityquestrobustregulation~e63a7136c7.en.pdf 7 See the van Steenis Future of Finance report: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/report/2019/future-of-financereport.pdf?la=en&hash=59CEFAEF01C71AA551E7182262E933A699E952FC 8 To put this in perspective, a typical working vocabulary for an adult native English-speaker is between 20,000 and 35,000 words. See the Economist’s reference to the TestyourVocab.com test: https://www.economist.com/johnson/2013/05/29/lexical-facts 6  7  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  7  (containing words like “if” or “but”, which would tend to indicate exceptions or operational modifications) has increased, as has the relative conditionality (i.e. allowing for the fact that overall volume has gone up too). Second, mapping networks of exposures is now a familiar tool for revealing interconnections and critical points in the financial system. Can we do the same for the system of post-crisis banking regulation? Chart 3 shows a simplified but real representation of how four layers of regulation for UK banks interlock with each other: EU regulation in the CRR in yellow and EBA Technical Standards in red, our Rulebook in blue and Supervisory Statements in green. This chart shows how the network of interconnections changed between 2007 and 2017. Each node is a single legal provision that explicitly cross-refers to at least one other provision. The simple observation is: the core of the network, mainly comprising the CRR, is a lot denser in 2017 than it was in 2007.

Mugur Isărescu: Introductory speech - CEPS Ideas Lab: Europe's Choice conference Introductory speech by Mr Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Ideas Lab - Europe's Choice conference, Brussels, 21 February 2019. * * * Chairman Almunia, First Vice President Timmermans, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a great privilege for me to attend the annual meetings of Centre for European Policy Studies, at a momentous time for the Union. Surely, the elections for the European Parliament are on my mind as well, but not exclusively. As the topic of this year’s meeting amply suggests, we, as EU citizens, need to make the right choices so that the future of the Union continues the project that has always fostered peace and economic reconstruction after the Second World War. It is the same project that has helped Central Eastern European countries “return to Europe” after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Centre for European Policy Studies is a great scene for discussing the huge challenges our Union is facing at the moment. It brings together high officials from EU institutions and national governments, academics and representatives of the civil society and business circles. I speak not only on behalf of the central bank of Romania, but also as a representative of a country that holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council. I trust that we will be able to fulfill our mandate and advance projects of substance for the Union.