reforms were implemented in the european financial system itself. it is now thirteen months to the day since the euro - area countries took the greatest stride towards deeper financial integration since the launch of the euro. on 4 november 2014, the european central bank took charge of directly supervising the largest, most significant banks in the euro area – a step which erected the first pillar of a european banking union. as of today, the ecb supervises 123 banks which together account for more than 85 % of the aggregated total assets of the euro area ’ s banking sector. that makes the ecb one of the world ’ s largest supervisors. to me, the banking union is the most logical step to take in advancing and completing our monetary union. this is because the euro area ’ s single monetary policy relies on a deeply integrated and resilient financial system to be effective and efficient in pursuing price stability. indeed, european financial markets were already interconnected prior to the euro crisis. but it was the arrangement by which national authorities were solely responsible for banking supervision which sparked a build - up of risks that finally spread across the entire union, gravely endangering its very existence. this experience gave way to an understanding that banking supervision needed to be shifted to the european level. that step has delivered three concrete benefits. first, european banking supervision enables banks throughout the euro area to be supervised in a uniform manner and subject to the same high standards. these harmonised standards will emerge as national supervisors share their experiences with their international peers and adopt national best practices in banking supervision at the european level. second, european banking supervision makes it possible to effectively identify and manage cross - border challenges. this is a crucially important point because large banks usually operate in more than one country. third, switching banking supervision from the national to the european level will add a degree of separation between supervisors and the banks they supervise. this will prevent supervisors from handling “ their ” banks with “ kid gloves ” out of national interest. as you can see, we have placed high hopes in european banking supervision. today, thirteen months on from the establishment of the single supervisory mechanism – or ssm for short – it ’ s time to take a first look back. bis central bankers ’ speeches we are already seeing the benefits of the new regime in our day - to - day business. there are 123 mixed joint supervisory teams – or jsts for short – for the banks directly supervised by the ecb. bundesbank supervisors belong to 22 jsts for

. 5 accountability independence does not mean arbitrariness. the ecb was given a democratic mandate. it is held accountable for acting in line with this mandate, both democratically and legally. from a democratic perspective, the ecb is accountable for its policies to the representation of eu citizens. as described in the report, the ecb ’ s president participates in quarterly hearings of the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament. as mep tremosa i balcells knows very well, these are not “ dialogues de sourds ”. the meps do not shy away from asking critical questions. as the president emphasised at his september 2016 hearing, the ecb takes these exchanges very seriously. in addition to the regular quarterly hearings, my executive board colleagues and i also participate in hearings of this committee to explain the ecb ’ s reasoning and decisions on specific topics. just last year, i visited the european parliament twice to discuss the proposal for a euro area budgetary capacity and the ecb ’ s involvement in greece. in about ten days ’ time the ecb, as it does every year, will publish its annual report and the vice - president will present it before the european parliament. later in the year, the president will also attend the plenary debate on it, which precedes the parliament adopting its official position on our activities. this european parliament resolution is an important contribution for our work, as it summarises the views of the representatives of the european people on our actions and policies, also in the fields of independence, transparency, accountability and integrity. we take the european parliament ’ s comments and suggestions very seriously. 6 i could continue with other examples showing the health of the relationship between the 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches european parliament and the ecb : from the governing council decision to adopt principles that increase transparency in developing ecb regulations on european statistics, to the ecb ’ s readiness to discuss questions on the work it is engaged in in the basel committee, of course within the confines imposed by confidentiality requirements. and i could mention the separate accountability channels foreseen with the establishment of ecb banking supervision, based on the interinstitutional agreement ( 2013 / 694 / eu ) between the european parliament and the ecb. last week, the chair of the ecb supervisory board was at the european parliament to present the ecb annual report on supervisory activities 2016. of course, i leave it to mep