christina papaconstantinou : address - single supervisory mechanism integration project event address by ms christina papaconstantinou, deputy governor of the bank of greece, to the staff of the supervisory departments at the " ssm integration project event ", athens, 11 march 2024. * * * good morning. i am very pleased to be here with you on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the single supervisory mechanism. as we know, the single supervisory mechanism was set up to safeguard confidence in the european banking system, increase its resilience, strengthen financial stability and create a level playing field among european banks. the global financial crisis revealed significant gaps in the supervision of banking institutions in europe, related to a fragmented supervisory framework, diverse supervisory tools and practices, lack of coordination and consultation. these gaps acted to impair the resilience of banks, hence of economies too. a single european approach to banking supervision which, while taking into account national specificities, creates an environment where all supervisors operate by the same rules and have the same tools, contributes to addressing these weaknesses. european banks are now in a much better position to cope with severe turmoil and shocks ( like those we experienced about a year ago ) than they were before the global financial crisis. the same holds true for greek banks, despite the serious challenges of the past. this is why we acknowledge that having the single supervisory mechanism in place was instrumental in providing an effective response to the crisis in the greek banking system in the aftermath of the sovereign debt crisis. managing the crisis together with the ssm meant stronger cooperation, exchange and productive interaction from the very start. the experience we have gained so far shows that collaboration and integration between the european central bank and the national supervisory authorities is key if we are to keep evolving amid rapid change ( including a changing climate, technological progress, etc. ) and ongoing challenges ( such as geopolitical risks ), demonstrating the necessary flexibility and adaptability. collaboration within the single supervisory mechanism has helped us and, as national supervisory authority, we have indeed evolved and have significantly upgraded our supervisory function : we have standardised several processes, developed manuals and methodologies for ongoing and on - site supervision, while at the same time becoming more extrovert. significant emphasis has also been placed on the need for continuous training of our staff. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches we at the bank of greece have been devoting significant resources to the single supervisory mechanism. our supervisory departments have committed more

cannot afford to be tainted by the actions of a few bad apples. any unscrupulous behaviour exhibited by a player should not be tolerated and be weeded out immediately from the industry. to protect the financial ecosystem, each organisation has the responsibility to investigate any misconduct and record the outcomes to allow other institutions in the market to make informed decisions on the ability of a person to serve with professionalism and integrity. in this regard, the bank is currently pursuing an initiative that will mandate the sharing of employment references with future employers to mitigate the problem of ‘ rolling bad apples ’ within the malaysian financial industry. specific and rules - based regulations, while able to lead institutions in the right direction, do not guarantee the internalisation of such values within bankers nor are they dynamic enough to catch up with new ways of breaching ethics. therefore, the bank will also be expanding its supervisory focus on financial institutions beyond balance sheet ratios, and incorporating organisational culture in our radar such as tone from the top, echo from below, accountability, communication, remuneration and performance management. this is a challenging but necessary task that requires creativity in exploring unconventional supervisory approaches including interviews and questionnaires for employees of financial institutions among others.. risk management as part of business strategy finally, risk managers must move away from merely compliance and loss prevention. risk managers must reposition themselves to be more engaged in strategic business decisions within their respective organisations. chief risk officers ( cros ) must have a broad and independent view of the organisation, with an ability to anticipate potential disruptions and to influence decision - making. however, according to a global survey conducted by pwc last year, only 1 / 3 of risk officers view themselves as part of the business. especially now in the age of disruption, risk managers should not view themselves as mere compliance officers or the mundane department that says ‘ no ’ to exciting business opportunities. instead, risk managers need to also think in terms of finding the right risk - return trade - off. risk management must go beyond the prevention of losses and play an active role in driving business sustainability and enhancing shareholder value. given the importance of enterprise risk management, efforts need to be directed to give prominence to this function. it is time for the stature of risk functions to be elevated. professional bodies like the ierp play a crucial role in stewarding this transformation by equipping risk management experts and raising their credibility through branding and professional qualifications. events like this conference can help propel the risk management