to say with any certainty how the results will turn out. that ’ s why i find it downright illconsidered for third parties to suggest that they know the outcome. bearing this in mind, i trust you will appreciate that the bundesbank will refrain from making any further public statements on the comprehensive assessment as from mid - september. if the aqr or the stress test reveal any capital shortfalls, it will be up to the banks to cover them as quickly as they can, first and foremost by approaching their stakeholders for additional funding. no later than two weeks after publication of the results, institutions will be required to submit capital plans in which they explain in detail how they intend to cover any capital shortfall. however, let us not forget one thing. the comprehensive assessment is based on balance sheet data as at 31 december 2013. when considering the published results, it is therefore important to pay particular attention to the column listing the capital measures taken in 2014. we expressly welcome the fact that several banks have strengthened their capital base in recent months. this helps make the banking system more stable. if there are not enough private funds to fill any capital shortfalls identified, the state in question will be obliged to provide a “ backstop ”. as a last resort, the government is to recapitalise banks, issue guarantees or take on risks. however, this government support is subject to strict conditions. the bank must be solvent, and the support must not offset any accrued losses. moreover, government assistance may be granted only if it serves to avert disruption to the real economy or dangers to financial stability. the comprehensive assessment is a major organisational undertaking for all involved, and one which must, furthermore, be implemented under massive time pressure. at its peak, more than 1, 700 auditors and 230 bundesbank and bafin supervisors were involved in germany alone. moreover, my experience in the bundesbank is that, ultimately, far more colleagues are, of course, involved in the comprehensive assessment than just those officially assigned to the project. some are helping out temporarily or indirectly, while others have had to take on tasks originally performed by staff now directly involved with the comprehensive assessment. for banks, too, taking part in the assessment involves a lot of work. and yet, the comprehensive assessment is decisive if the single supervisory mechanism is to get off to a good start. bis central bankers ’ speeches 3. the world post 4 november under the single supervisory mechanism,

claudia buch : focus on micro data – potential benefits for the industry? speech by prof claudia buch, deputy president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the eighth ecb statistics conference “ central bank statistics : moving beyond the aggregates ”, frankfurt am main, 6 july 2016. * * * i would like to thank robert kirchner and marit wehner for their valuable contributions. 1. focus on micro data : potential benefits for the industry? this session addresses two issues that are closely interlinked. the first concerns the costs and benefits of using micro data in statistics in general and in central bank statistics in particular. the second deals with the benefits of micro data for the industry. these two questions cannot be answered independently of each other. central bank statistics are a public good. therefore, the costs and benefits of different types of statistics need to be assessed from the perspective of society as a whole. the financial industry is a key stakeholder in this process. the quality of the data reported hinges on the reporting mechanisms employed by the industry, and data that are not regularly kept up to date by financial institutions may be of limited value for central banks, too. to a large extent, this aligns the interests of central banks and the reporting parties. but, of course, public and private interests may differ when it comes to aspects such as reporting costs. while reporting costs need to be balanced against the benefits of statistics, some costs for the industry are inevitable in order to improve monitoring of the financial system and reduce the likelihood of costly financial crises occurring in the future. in the following, the traditional statistical compilation process is compared with the new, microdata - based approach. this sheds light on the large potential of micro data, not only for the creation of analytical benefits, but also for cost - savings. 2. central banking statistics from the traditional “ value chain ” to micro data in the system of official statistics that has evolved over time, reporting forms are used to obtain information, which is used to compile specific statistics in a pre - defined aggregation form. the reports are collected, checked for plausibility, supplemented by estimates for missing data, extrapolated if need be, and then consolidated across pre - defined dimensions. it is often neither legally nor technically possible to use the underlying micro data later on. firms whose reports have been included in these calculations can use the aggregated statistics to analyse the macroeconomic environment, for instance. however, focused studies on specific