sabine lautenschlager : the ssm after one year keynote speech by ms sabine lautenschlager, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the iif ( institute of international finance ) colloquium on european banking union, frankfurt am main, 18 november 2015. * * * sylvie, david, ladies and gentlemen, looking at the programme for tomorrow, i see you will have an interesting day full of valuable insights and discussions about • banking union as well as capital markets union, • their current and potential effect on banks, • the establishment of the single resolution board, and • the activities of the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ) in particular. it is a pleasure to be here this evening to set the stage for this upcoming conference. i welcome this opportunity to reflect on some of the messages the single supervisory mechanism learnt during its first year of operation. ( and i promise my comments will not be too long or too exhaustive – the main course is still in front of us, after all ). on our first anniversary, we received a lot of praise! at the same time, a few of our stakeholders expressed some understandable wishes and called for improvements. let me first of all thank all those who praised us – you will not be too surprised that i would briefly like to look back on some of the achievements for which we were praised before i consider the room for improvement. let me recall what the ssm is all about : the ssm was the result of one of the biggest financial crises in the last hundred years. our task is to contribute to a safe and sound banking system in the euro area and thus to contribute to national, european and global financial stability. we are asked to ensure a level playing field across national borders. we aim to counter supervisory arbitrage and promote equal treatment. our assignment is to establish a euro area supervisor which : • is objective and fair, with no home bias, • acts effectively, efficiently and pre - emptively, • brings together experience and knowledge of regional and european markets and of supervisory parameters, • monitors european and global developments, • identifies risk trends and finds quickly mitigating measures, and • contributes to setting european and global standards. the ssm is one of the world ’ s largest supervisors. we supervise 123 significant banking groups in 19 countries, including nine out of the current 30 global systemically important banks identified for 2016. we are also responsible for the effective and consistent function of

##2 ). some argue that, if technological innovation in recycling advances far enough, europe could become a net exporter of these minerals in the long term. but, in the short term, we need to step up economic diplomacy to strengthen trade and investment partnerships with a wider group of suppliers, including those in sub - saharan africa. the g7 partnership for resilient and inclusive supply chain enhancement is a blueprint for innovative strategies on this front. it can help diversify our supply chains for clean energy products, while providing our partners in low - and middle - income countries with technology transfers that support their economic development. m. g. attinasi and m. mancini ( coordinators ), ‘ navigating a fragmenting global trading system : insights for central banks ’, european central bank, occasional paper series, forthcoming. to put this figure into perspective, a 6 percent decline in global output corresponds to the impact of the covid - 19 pandemic on world gdp in 2020. this impact is calculated as the difference between realized world gdp in 2020 and the corresponding value projected by the imf in its october 2019 ‘ world economic outlook ’. successful vaccines against covid - 19. the eu is already discussing new ways to further coordinate its members ’ policies. we also need to work better with our international partners. for instance, we should reinvigorate discussions on trade and investment agreements. on industrial policy, better coordination would at least allow us to avoid costly subsidy wars. * * * let me conclude by emphasizing that the costs of international fragmentation are not only economic. much more is at stake : from social progress to international cooperation. and so is freedom – the freedom to trade goods and services, to invest across borders, to share knowledge and ideas. these are the prerequisites for securing prosperity and peace. i very much look forward to the discussions that will emerge from today ’ s seminar. i am sure it will help raise awareness of the many benefits that only an integrated world can bring.