to building walls. but walls separate. in europe we have since gone some way to responding to newton ’ s observation. the creation of the european common market without frontiers was the first significant step towards tearing down walls and building solid bridges across europe. another milestone along the road to european integration was the introduction of the euro. currently, we are working again on a historic project of european integration, namely the creation of a european banking union. the banking union is currently our largest institutional construction site. the legal basis for the new european single supervisory mechanism is now in place since 3 november, thus we have entered the implementation phase. the major challenge ahead is the comprehensive assessment of banks. currently, the banking supervisors are selecting the bis central bankers ’ speeches critical balance sheet items of the banks under the single supervisory mechanism. these items will then be subject to closer scrutiny. this appraisal of the present situation will be complemented by a joint stress test of the european central bank and the european banking authority which will be designed to reveal future risks. it is essential to convince the markets that banks are solving their legacy problems before the european central bank takes over responsibility for banking supervision at the end of next year. the cleaning - up of the balance sheets will be an important pre - condition to ensuring a smooth start for the new supervisory regime. in a market economy it is essential that banks, like any other business firms, can fail and can exit the market. “ too big to fail ” was with us for much too long. therefore, it is most important that we move from the old bail - out regime to the new bail - in regime in a credible way. consequently, the single supervisory mechanism has to be accompanied by a corresponding recovery and resolution mechanism with a view to protecting taxpayers ’ money from failing banks. the rules specifying potential bail - ins have to spell out a clear pecking order for covering losses. thereby, the principle of dual subsidiarity should be observed. to put it in a nutshell : before public money is used, private creditors have to contribute to covering losses. and before european financial backstops, such as the esm, are used, member states have to cover losses of their banks. this would reinforce another important principle, namely that liability and control have to go hand in hand. this being said, let me emphasize that the single supervisory mechanism, accompanied by a recovery and resolution mechanism, can neither resolve today ’ s debt crisis nor act as a substitute for structural reforms

of having set up the spac. a spac is listed and it in turn speeds up the target firm ’ s listing. communication from the commission to the european parliament, the council, the european economic and social committee and the committee of the regions on the mid - term review of the capital markets union action plan, com ( 2017 ) 292 final. these are all interesting signs, and they need to take firm hold. italy ’ s entire financial system must change to address the best and most innovative firms, helping them to grow. the whole of italy ’ s economic future depends on it. designed by the printing and publishing division of the bank of italy