last century the newly created euro replaced the deutsche mark as the reserve currency of the currency board in bulgaria. to sum up, our own experience is part of the global history of alternating monetary policy regimes. it motivates our interest in both the history and future of monetary unions. as central bankers we do look forward to the papers and discussions today, since the historical perspectives therein should also bring out rather relevant contemporary insights for policy. after the covid19 outbreak disrupted our usual ways of communication and in - person contacts, this may be among the first international conferences on financial and economic history to take place physically again. to be more precise – almost entirely physically – since some of our speakers have had to deal with last - minute unforeseen circumstances and will present their research remotely. thus, today we will have the opportunity to appreciate a series of papers and presentations, 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches commencing with the keynote speech by thomas mayer. he will lay ground by pairing the two main functions of money. on the one hand, money is a means of transaction that stores value over time and space while being a standardised unit of account to record this exchange. on the other hand, the printing or minting of money has been a potent funding instrument and a symbol of the state. therefore, we expect to hear what motivates sovereign states to choose to adopt a common currency in a monetary union. we have seen in history how newly established states are eager to reaffirm independence in their internal political discourse by creating a national currency, but then resort to pegging to global currencies if, for example, in need to rein inflation or gain overall policy credibility. sometimes they even adopt a foreign currency as their own unilaterally, as demonstrated by recent examples in close parts of europe ( kosovo and montenegro ). after the introduction and the keynote, the conference explores four directions of thought on the topic of monetary unions in history. a panel is devoted to each of them. the first panel will explore the link between monetary unions and economic integration by offering a glimpse in their history. the second session will focus on twentieth century monetary unions following the great and continuous economic stress of the first world war. the third panel will examine monetary unions as facilitating tools for greater customs and economic integration within the comecon and the austro - hungarian empire. finally, the last session will address the question to what extent the political relations transcend in the monetary unions as well illustrated by the great

repair banks ’ condition by identifying and having the necessary corrective actions implemented where necessary. finally, the comprehensive assessment builds confidence by assuring all relevant stakeholders that banks are fundamentally sound and trustworthy. the ecb will conduct the comprehensive assessment in close cooperation with national authorities, and also with esrb and eba. the ecb will detail the design and strategy of the assessment exercise, monitor its execution, perform quality assurance as well as collect and consolidate the results and finalise and disclose the overall assessment. national supervisors execute the exercise at the national level, benefitting from local knowledge, but following common data requirements and methodology. as an example of the extensive methodology, the asset quality review phase 2 manual was published in march. the manual provides specific guidelines for all involved parties on the conduct of relevant steps of the exercise. the comprehensive assessment is indeed comprehensive. first we do a risk assessment addressing key risks in the banks ’ balance sheets, including liquidity, leverage and funding. after that an asset quality review is carried out examining banks ’ balance sheets based on information at the end of 2013. and finally, a stress test, done in collaboration with the eba, complements the asset quality review by providing a forward - looking view of banks ’ riskabsorption capacity under stress. the asset quality review has progressed and some details of its coverage have been released. approximately 135 000 loan books will be examined by the authorities. the loan file review covers both corporate and retail portfolios. it covers total banking book riskweighted assets ( rwa ) of approximately € 3. 7 trillion, representing 58 % of total credit riskweighted assets across the banks subject to the assessment. in addition, 29 banks with material trading book exposures are subject to a specifically tailored aqr of the trading book. the structure of the comprehensive assessment also clarifies the frequently asked question, how this assessment differs from previously conducted eu level stress tests? the key differences to my mind are as follows : • banks ’ risks and asset quality are assessed in a comprehensive manner at the banking union level. assessments are made applying common definitions, abolishing – or at least showing explicitly – any diverging national interpretations. • sufficient corrective measures can be guaranteed as the ecb in its supervisory role will have all the necessary supervisory powers. bis central bankers ’ speeches • quality of assessments is ensured not only by the ecb ’ s strict procedure for ongoing quality assurance, but also by the involvement of third party evalu