just over a week the single supervisory mechanism will become fully operational, and the immediate future poses challenges of the first order both for supervisors, involving the adaptation of our structures and functioning to the needs of the new european mechanism, and for banks. i would not like to conclude without thanking the whole team at the banco de espana, which has been working for months in collaboration with the european central bank, the banks and the audit firms to successfully see through this complex exercise. and, naturally, i would also like to extend my thanks to the teams at all of the banks which, for months, have devoted their best technical capabilities to this end. thank you very much for your interest and for being here today. bis central bankers ’ speeches

set in place, both by the ecb and by national authorities, we were able to ensure that the results of the exercise met high standards and were reasonably comparable across banks from different countries. moreover, the comprehensive assessment is, undoubtedly, a major step forward in terms of transparency, significantly increasing the amount, quality and consistency of the information available about the position of european banks. 5. minimum levels of capital required. a ) minimum thresholds of common equity tier 1 ( cet1 ) capital were set, as defined under the basel iii accord, that have to be exceeded both in the comprehensive assessment, and in the baseline scenario of the stress test ( 8 % ) ; and another minimum threshold that has to be exceeded in the adverse scenario of the stress test ( 5. 5 % ). b ) the banks falling short have to submit, within two weeks, a recapitalisation plan to be implemented within six months ( if the capital shortfall arises from the asset bis central bankers ’ speeches review or from the baseline scenario in the stress test ) or nine months ( if the capital shortfall arises from the adverse scenario ). 6. results at the european level the results just disclosed show that, according to the methodology used, in the banking systems as a whole that are to be supervised by the single supervisory mechanism – the ecb and the national supervisory authorities – 25 banks have a capital shortfall, assessed against the three thresholds set ( in the aqr and in the baseline and adverse scenarios of the stress test ). of these 25 banks, 12 have already increased capital in 2014 to make good the shortfall, meaning there are only 13 banks that have to submit their plans to redress capital inadequacy. in total, the shortfall of these 25 banks amounted to €24. 6 billion, but bearing in mind the capital increases already made, the shortfall currently stands at only €9. 5 billion. 7. outcome of the exercise for spanish banks a ) of the 15 spanish banks assessed, 14 have passed the examination, i. e. they exceed the minimum capital required in the three phases of the exercise. one bank, liberbank, does not reach the minimum 8 % ratio set for the comprehensive assessment, standing at 7. 8 %, i. e. 0. 2 pp below the minimum required. b ) this bank has already concluded a capital increase for an amount exceeding €600 million, meaning that it has already made good the short