low - interest - rate environment. this survey is important because it will give us an exact picture of the impact of various interest rate scenarios and short - term shocks. the survey will run until 28 june. to sum up : not only the big banks, but also smaller institutions, will have to face the challenges presented by the market and the challenges presented by the single supervisory mechanism for banks in europe. the words of william shakespeare are apt here : “ the fault (... ) is not in our stars, but in ourselves (... ). ” thank you very much. bis central bankers ’ speeches

– across all areas of the banking sector. one example is the review of supervisory options and national discretions. european supervisory legislation still offers some 150 options from which supervisors can choose. and, at the national level, these options are actually being exercised in a multitude of ways. of course, it sometimes makes sense to interpret rules against the background of national special features – but sometimes it doesn ’ t. we therefore have to review all these options very carefully and keep only those options which truly reflect the peculiarities of various markets and banks, while allowing all others to expire. the ecb and the national supervisors have just begun their review of national options and discretions. even in the area of accounting standards, there are calls for further harmonisation. in midmarch the ecb adopted a new regulation on prudential reporting requirements for financial data. this regulation applies to all institutions not covered by the already - harmonised reporting requirements for ifrs institutions. june 2017 is the final deadline, therefore, for all institutions which prepare their financial statements under german gaap to submit their prudential returns on the basis of the ecb regulation. the ecb must generally also accept national accounting standards within the context of the ssm. against this background, we will do all we can to ensure that german accounting standards continue to apply – barring any changes to the relevant legislation. 4. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, the single supervisory mechanism will have many advantages. it will allow all euro - area banks to be supervised at consistently high standards ; it will make it easier to deal with cross - border problems ; and it will mitigate the influence of national interests on banking supervision. on the whole, it will create a single european supervisory culture which will also cover those banks that are not directly supervised by the ecb. it will make the entire banking sector safer, and that will be good for all banks. however, all supervisors and regulators do is create a framework. the market functions within this framework, and each individual bank has to hold its own in a competitive environment. there are therefore several challenges : the persistent phase of low interest bis central bankers ’ speeches rates, which is putting pressure on profits ; the trend towards digitalisation, which could fundamentally alter the structure of banking business ; and more intense competition from new players in the market. in view of the low interest rates, on 19 may bafin and bundesbank launched a second survey on german credit institutions ’ earnings and resilience in a