supervisors are likewise unable to foresee what the future holds for this sector and they have no clear targets or target ratios in mind. that said, at this juncture, i see no indication of current trends coming to an abrupt halt or even undergoing a reversal. german savings banks and credit institutions have been scaling back their operations since the early 1990s. no fewer than 9, 000 savings bank branches have been shut down and the number of institutions has almost halved. given today ’ s challenging environment, it is fair to assume that, in some cases, consolidation might still be the soundest response in economic terms. 3... and need a functioning administrative board ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt that germany ’ s savings banks are facing some major challenges. and if these challenges are to be met, qualified staff will be needed at all levels. clearly, this includes the supervisory bodies, in other words the administrative boards, in the case of savings banks. as you will probably have noticed, in recent weeks, this issue has been the subject of increased debate in the press. this debate was prompted by the current draft proposal for a european banking authority ( eba ) 2 guideline as well as a corresponding ecb guideline3. both papers contain requirements applying to the members of supervisory bodies in financial institutions and thus also to persons sitting on the administrative boards of savings banks. among other things, the requirements address these individuals ’ specialist knowledge and possible conflicts of interest. let me begin by making one thing clear. in my mind, it makes good sense for the eba and ecb to address these matters. supervisory and administrative boards are extremely important bodies. it is therefore essential that their members ask the right questions. to do this, they need to be uninfluenced by other interests. and their professional skills need to be tip - top. academic studies of the german banking and savings bank sector have confirmed how important the skillsets of an institution ’ s supervisory board members are in achieving success. 4 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches for some commentators, however, the current proposals are a step too far. the relevant associations and politicians have voiced their criticism. but are the basic principles that underpin the german savings bank landscape really being questioned? to be more specific : what do the european proposals mean for administrative bodies within the savings banks and their members? i would first like to remind you that requirements relating to the specialist skills of administrative board members have long been part of the picture

of the board of directors at the foundation for photography and media arts. at this juncture, i should also mention his invaluable efforts supporting the picasso museum. ladies and gentlemen, dr gerlach, i would like to conclude my remarks with one last quote from gronemeyer ’ s song dedicated to bochum. in its last line he sings “ gluck auf ", which roughly translates as “ good fortune! ". and on behalf of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, it is good fortune that i wish you, dr gerlach, now and in all your future endeavours. 1 dombret, gunduz, rocholl ( 2017 ) : " will german banks earn their cost of capital? ", deutsche bundesbank discussion paper no 01 / 2017. 2 consultation paper : joint esma and eba guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders under directive 2013 / 36 / eu and directive 2014 / 65 / eu of 28 october 2016 ( eba / cp / 2016 / 17 ). 3 ecb draft of a guideline on assessing professional qualifications and personal reliability, dated 14 november 2016. 4 harald hau and marcel thum : " sub - prime crisis and board ( in - ) competence : private versus public banks in germany " in economic policy, october 2009, pp. 701 - 752. 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches