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

yannis stournaras : global financial and economic crisis – challenges and prospects speech by mr yannis stournaras, governor of the bank of greece, at the 2014 multinational finance society winter conference “ global financial and economic crisis : challenges and prospects ”, co - organized by the centre of planning and economic research and the multinational finance society, athens, 14 december 2014. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to address such a distinguished audience, on a topic that unfortunately is not yet history. governments and central banks certainly managed to safeguard financial stability in turbulent times. however, certain repercussions of the crisis have not yet been fully dealt with and some vulnerabilities may reappear. in this sense, looking back with a critical view may help us understand the factors that put at risk the global economic recovery. the global financial and economic crisis that was triggered by a distortion in the u. s. subprime mortgage market, highlighted serious weaknesses in the financial regulatory frameworks of the globalized and broadly interrelated national markets. as a result, the validity of the theory of self - correcting market mechanisms has been strongly contested. global financial crisis • the roots of the global financial crisis can be traced back to both macroeconomic and microeconomic factors. on the macro level, global imbalances for over a decade before the crisis resulted in ample liquidity in world financial markets and in low interest rates, facilitating high levels of leverage, excessive dependence on unsustainable short - term financing and weak risk management. • at the same time, on the micro level, financial innovation and the investors ’ “ search for yield ” led to the creation of complex financial instruments with an obscure credit risk distribution. the originate - to - distribute model, according to which loans are traded between investors, became widespread practice. this led, in effect, to a loosening of lending criteria and facilitated the creation of the aforementioned complex credit instruments. • over time, excessive credit risk and liquidity accumulated in the so - called “ investment vehicles. ” the placement of credit institutions in such vehicles was not recorded on their balance sheets, and as a result, the associated risks slipped through the cracks of internal control mechanisms. moreover, the opacity and the uncertain dispersion of risks of these instruments were further exacerbated by the rapid growth of the derivatives market, in particular of derivatives traded outside regulated markets ( “ over the counter ” ). • as