and supervisors towards greening the financial system and managing climate - related risks. on the adaptation front, our contribution in the design of the national strategy on adaptation to climate change in 2015 has been of major importance in paving the way for adaptation measures. our current participation in the life - ip programme adaptivgreece, reinstates our commitment. a commitment, within the remit of our mandate and alongside central banks around the world, to act as a catalyst in the financial system, to accelerate the transition to an environment - friendly, carbonneutral economy and to enhance, through adaptation, society ’ s resilience to climate change risks. i hope we have an insightful and fruitful event. thank you. [ 1 ] adapt now : a global call for leadership on climate resilience [ 2 ] contribution by isabel schnabel, member of the executive board of the ecb, to the international monetary fund ’ s magazine finance and development, august 2021

yannis stournaras : “ european banking supervision : the first eighteen months ” welcome address by mr yannis stournaras, governor of the bank of greece, at the presentation of the book by dirk schoenmaker and nicolas veron : “ european banking supervision : the first eighteen months ”, athens, 14 july 2016. * * * we are really pleased and honored to have you here for the presentation of the study related to the first eighteen months of the european banking supervision. i strongly believe your work brings valuable insight in an era involving new policy regimes that have brought forward profound change to the european banking landscape. i also feel the work presented here today is essential as it provides an excellent overview related to ssm ’ s operations as well as the response to several challenges. needless to say if we were having this discussion a couple of years ago it would have been hard to anticipate that a major organization of this size would be fully operational at such an early stage and truly competent in dealing with major issues in the euro - area. it is equally important to understand that these challenges have not changed much over the past few years : asset quality deterioration, market segmentation and business model viability are still issues to be tackled by monetary policy and supervisory decision makers in our days. it is worthwhile examining a persistent characteristic during these years, indicative of these considerations : shares of european banks have been trading at a discount to tangible book value, while those of the largest us banks trade at a premium to book value. a comparison of capital - adequacy ratios can no longer explain this difference in valuation multiples, as capital ratios for euro area banks have risen from about 8 percent in 2008 to about 14 percent today. on the contrary, they are indicative of a european banking sector undergoing a transformation that demands a comprehensive and radical adjustment of the core business model of operation. i feel that, eight years after the financial crisis, we are still witnessing a transition phase. banks are definitely stronger than one decade ago, capital adequacy ratios do demonstrate that, but they are still adjusting their business models to a post - crisis world. at the same time, they also have to address legacy issues with problems of non - performing exposures adding to the overall assessment of investment considerations. the euro - area financial crisis, as originated in the end of the previous decade, provided the perhaps most serious challenge to the stability of the european union ; it is now well understood that a