these hurdles, there have been numerous speeches to mark the first anniversary of the ssm which have recognized its many achievements. these successes have been well documented and ignazio angeloni has reminded us of them. let me add to this chorus that one of the critical success factors of the ssm has been the ecb ’ s success in attracting high quality staff. many of them are experienced banking supervisors coming straight from the national banking authorities, including the central bank of ireland. they have been attracted by the exciting challenge of working abroad, in helping establish the ssm, and the much better financial terms and employment conditions offered to them. a second wave of supervisors is expected to leave the central bank and other national competent authorities next year, as the ecb will be increasing its ssm headcount by 25 %. combined with the familiar constraint of fempi, this will bring further stresses to the bench strength of banking supervision in the central bank, and to the challenge of replenishing once more our ranks. national competent authority from an national authority perspective, the establishment of the ssm for banking supervision has led to a thorough change in how supervisors within the central bank work. there is the complex multi - location jst relationship to manage with an even greater emphasis on analysis, “ constrained judgment ”, quantitative assessments ( including of risk and control frameworks ) and, a particularly large change for the central bank, a move to formalised end - to - end on - site inspections. the approach to supervision developed by the ecb, with our input and influence, gives the central bank, and banking supervision, the opportunity to build on the significant developments and achievements that have already taken place in the post - crisis and programme years. these include the roll - out of risk - based supervision, the development of leading stress testing approaches and data analytics. this has been combined with instilling an assertive culture amongst our supervisors, as well as using our powers under a credible threat of enforcement. these hard - earned achievements contributed to the delivery of large tracts of the financial sector reform programme but also mean that irish banking supervision bis central bankers ’ speeches staff are well - placed to demonstrate tier - one supervisory capabilities and to operate with excellence in the ssm. with this in mind, banking supervision in the central bank has been restructured last year with three divisions : namely : supervision, analysis and inspections in order to : 1. create a very clear distinction between off - site supervision, on - site

inspections, and specialist expertise ; 2. establish strong relationships, organisational workflows and seniority of engagement between the central bank and the ecb. in working within the ssm, the central bank has sought to impact and influence the nature, approach and outcome of supervision to ensure that we have safe banks and increased financial stability at home and abroad. we have done this by helping extensively in the formative stages of the ssm ; guiding the development of the comprehensive assessment methodology ; facilitating the development of the ssm ’ s supervisory it system though the provision of prism to the ecb ; supporting significant numbers of secondees to the ecb ; and providing leadership on those areas where we have well - founded expertise. an example of this is sharon donnery ’ s – the central bank ’ s director of credit institutions supervision – appointment as chair of the ssm high level group on non - performing loans. ireland has learned the hard way to deal with the problem of npls and we can offer our insights in leading this work, and in our membership of numerous other working groups. the supervisory board the governance of the ssm rests on its governing council and its supervisory board. both are comprised of six ecb members and 19 national members. for the supervisory board, the national member is the deputy governor in charge of banking supervision or his equivalent in each of the 19 eurozone countries. the supervisory board is the highest body of the ecb where, in practice, substantial debates take place on supervisory decisions. proposals are brought to the board by the jsts and debated with a view to issue draft decisions. the governing council, as a rule, adopts these decisions, although it can object to any ; this exceptional circumstance would then trigger the convening of a mediation panel. this has not happened so far. the composition of the supervisory board brings unique strengths and challenges to its task. all its members are senior and experienced supervisors or central bankers or both. the aggregate wealth of knowledge and experience of the board is formidable, and further supported by the staff of the ecb and the national competent authorities. i can say, as ireland ’ s member of the supervisory board, that all decisions are approached with rigour and integrity and that the board brings thorough challenge to supervisory proposals tabled to its meeting. however, it is fair to say that the central bank would not accept from a regulated entity to have such a numerous board, and it proves indeed unwieldy at times. furthermore,