andreas dombret : the single supervisory mechanism – from european supervisor to european supervision speech by dr andreas dombret, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the handelsblatt annual conference “ new developments in banking supervision ”, frankfurt am main, 11 november 2015. * 1. * * introduction ladies and gentlemen it gives me great pleasure to speak to you here today at the handelsblatt annual conference on the topic of new developments in banking supervision. carnival season begins today, 11 november at 11. 11 am – but to those of you who are hoping for a traditional, witty carnival speech at this point, i ’ m afraid i ’ m about to let you down. besides, 11 o ’ clock is still a good couple of hours away. nonetheless, i think we should begin on a light - hearted note. have you heard the one about the german, the frenchman and the englishman who are sentenced to death but granted one final request? the frenchman chooses a six - course meal with red wine. the german asks to give one last, long speech. and the englishman ’ s final request? “ i want you to shoot me before the german starts speaking. ” ladies and gentlemen, i hope that none of us will have to make such a final request any time soon, and i promise to keep my speech short. in any case, the topic i have chosen is still fairly new – the single supervisory mechanism, or ssm. 2. one year of european banking supervision : initial successes... just as today marks a new season for those who celebrate carnival, we banking supervisors entered a new era just over a year ago – the era of european banking supervision. on 4 november 2014, we established the first pillar of the european banking union in the form of the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ). on that day, the european central bank ( ecb ) assumed responsibility for directly supervising the approximately 120 largest banks in the euro area. it therefore now supervises over 85 % of the euro - area banking sector, measured by total assets. to make one thing clear from the start, it is obvious how much has been achieved over the past year. the ssm, which is staffed by personnel from the ecb and each euro - area country ’ s national competent authorities, has got off to a flying start, which is mainly down to the excellent teamwork between these two groups of supervisors. the joint supervisory teams, or jsts, show

of this framework, and they guided everything you did. price stability can only be achieved if a central bank has the space to act independently : 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches independently of political pressure to make allowances for the current fiscal situation ; and independently, too, of pressure from financial markets to provide cheap funding for longer than actually warranted to safeguard price stability. looking back over your career, one could say that after completing your phd you had the post of bundesbank president very firmly in your sights. your professional journey took you via the council of economic experts ; the international monetary fund ; the directorate general economics at the bundesbank ; and the chancellery as chancellor merkel ’ s economic policy adviser. you were thus ideally primed for the tasks that lay ahead when you took up office in 2011, and you knew the bank well. you knew which strategic levers would make the bank “ fit for the future ”. after all, even if the institutional guiding principles have been staked out, challenges will still crop up along the way that need to be managed successfully. your term of office was marked, in particular, by the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis in europe. europe has emerged institutionally strengthened from both these crises – and the bundesbank played a key part in achieving this. the motto of our joint efforts is to be a reliable partner in the eurosystem. for the bundesbank is an integral part of the eurosystem. there are three examples of successful european integration i would like to highlight : during your term of office, the single supervisory mechanism was established as one pillar of the banking union. the european systemic risk board has been coordinating financial stability policy in europe for more than ten years now. and with the digital euro, we are now at the cusp of another key european project. what is more, the bundesbank has played a major new role in safeguarding financial stability since 2014. needless to say, functioning, stable financial markets have always been important to the bank. but the financial stability act staked out a new framework. the bank can only perform all these tasks well if it has the right internal set - up. with a clear strategy process and a new culture of openness, we have achieved a great deal in the past few years. under your leadership, management principles and an explicit mission statement were developed for the first time. the open day you established, jens, has made the bank more