christine lagarde : welcome address - tenth anniversary of the single supervisory mechanism welcome address by ms christine lagarde, president of the european central bank, at the event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the single supervisory mechanism, frankfurt am main, 6 november 2024. * * * it is a pleasure to welcome you to this event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ). the ssm became operational ten years ago, almost to the day, on 4 november 2014. it was the most significant step forward in european integration since the introduction of the euro. if we think back to how the banking sector was faring a decade ago, we can see just how much has changed. the euro crisis had exposed significant weaknesses : low equity buffers, high levels of non - performing loans and deep exposures to domestic sovereigns. our challenge, as daniele nouy said at the time, was to " help rebuild confidence in the balance sheets of ssm area banks " amid a fragmented supervisory landscape. 1 today, however, the situation is vastly different. despite the major shocks that have hit the euro area in recent years, our banking sector is resilient. the aggregate common equity tier 1 ( cet1 ) ratio rose from 12. 7 % in 2015 to 15. 8 % in mid - 2024, while the liquidity coverage ratio increased from 138 % to 159 % over the same period. the main risks we face today no longer stem from the banks themselves, but from an increasingly volatile external environment. and single supervision allows us to address these risks through a common, forward - looking approach. so, have we achieved the initial aims of this single supervision? the achievements of single supervision if we consider the tumultuous events of the past few years, it is clear that european supervision has exceeded expectations. european banks have become considerably more resilient, providing critical stabilisation during the recent periods of disruption. in essence, european supervision has successfully addressed what herman van rompuy identified in 2012 as the need to " correct the weakness of the policy infrastructure of the common currency ". 2 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches first, more rigorous and more uniform supervision has bolstered public confidence, ensuring that bank deposits are seen as equally safe across the euro area, thereby preserving the integrity of our monetary union. since the start of single supervision, household's cross - border deposits have more than doubled to €151 billion today.

), blinder and morgan ( 2000 ) and lombardelli, proudman and talbot ( 2005 ). reveal its new £20 note. and the figure celebrated on the new note will, of course, be adam smith the first economist and the first scotsman to appear on a bank of england note. from next spring, when visitors to our country look carefully at their new £20 notes, they will be able to see an engraving showing the division of labour in pin manufacturing with the words “ and the great increase in the quantity of work that results ”. i hope they will absorb the lesson that specialisation in production and trade across the world are the way to improve living standards in all countries – rich and poor alike. and perhaps when they return home they will press their own politicians to support the opening up of trade which has been at the heart of the british government ’ s efforts to reform the world economy. so you should be proud of your famous son who, despite being “ an absent - minded professor ” who led a “ quiet, uneventful life ”, influenced the way the whole world thinks about the route to economic prosperity. 20 let me conclude by returning to the words of jacob viner : “ in these days of contending schools, each of them with the deep, if momentary, conviction that it, and it alone, knows the one and only path to economic truth, how refreshing it is to return to the wealth of nations with its eclecticism, its good temper, its common sense, and its willingness to grant that those who saw things differently from itself were only partly wrong ”. 21 truly, adam smith was a man of the scottish enlightenment, and i am delighted that from next year his face will look out at us from our banknotes. references blinder, a and morgan, r ( 2000 ),'are two heads better than one? an experimental analysis of group vs individual decision making ', nber working paper no 7909, september. buchan, j ( 2006 ) adam smith and the pursuit of perfect liberty, london : profile books. coase, r ( 1991 ), ‘ the institutional structure of production ’, nobel lecture. hayek, f ( 1976 ) denationalization of money, london : institute of economic affairs. king, m ( 2002 ), ‘ the monetary policy committee : five years on ’, speech delivered to the society of business economists. king, m ( 2004 ), ‘ the institutions of monetary policy