dimitar radev : recent achievements in resolving bulgaria's banking sector issues address by mr dimitar radev, governor of the bulgarian national bank, at a forum of the association of banks in bulgaria on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its foundation, sofia, 24 may 2017. * * * dear colleagues, first of all, i would like to congratulate you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of your association. during this, sometimes turbulent, period the association proved itself not only as a branch organization supporting its members in their banking business, but also as a reliable and reputable partner to public authorities and institutions, including bnb. we highly appreciate this role. it was also demonstrated in the best of ways in the implementation of the measures in the banking sector after the turmoil in 2014. in the short period after it we went together a long way. as a central bank, we focused on improving supervision and building a reliable institutional framework for resolving banking sector issues. undoubtedly, however, our most important joint effort was the asset quality review and the stress test conducted last year. an exercise unprecedented in its scale that was a real challenge and a test not only for the central bank, but for our banking system as a whole. only two days ago, our achievements in the banking sector were a subject of an objective and independent discussion. this happened at the consideration and approval of our financial system assessment at the highest possible professional forum for such discussions – the executive board of the imf. the conclusions from this discussion are categorical. progress is achieved in the implementation of all measures we launched in 2015. supervision is in a better condition. as a result of the asset quality assessment we have a clearer picture and high quality data of bank impairment practices and collateral valuations. our banking sector is generally stable and with high capital adequacy and liquidity. certainly, those things are well known in the banking sector. the discussion two days ago provided a platform so things can be made visible for those outside the banking sector as well. i must immediately stress that the discussion reached yet another important conclusion, which we are well – perhaps even better – aware of than external observers, namely, that we need to consolidate the achieved progress. i would sum this up in the following way : we have made a definite progress ; however, even more remains to be done. and this is what we are currently focusing on. all our actions will be anchored in our legislative mandate which is : price stability

still weak, though increasing, and demand for loans requires that you keep seeking solutions for greater efficiency. the topics of credit risk management and costs policies would more and more be high on the agenda also because it is likely that we would witness another cycle of rising interest rates, given the worldwide trends and the expectations of such a development in the euro area sooner or later. these are topics that we will continue to discuss. thank you for the good cooperation, and congratulations on the 25th anniversary! 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches