legislation and lower - level provisions, such as binding standards developed by the european banking authority. the rulebook leaves, however, some leeway for national authorities to impose stricter requirements at the national level for macroprudential reasons, such as containing real - estate bubbles. the greatest progress has been achieved in the field of the single supervisory mechanism. in november, an eu regulation came into effect assigning supervisory competencies to the dirk schoenmaker ( 2011 ) “ the financial trilemma ”, economics letters 111, 57 – 59. bis central bankers ’ speeches european central bank ( ecb ). when the ecb will assume its supervisory tasks next year, it will have two clearly separated functions – monetary policy and banking supervision. another important pillar of the banking union is the single resolution mechanism. as you know, intensive talks have been going on among member states on this field. in addition, deposit insurance schemes will be strengthened and harmonised as part of the banking union. in the future, the banking union, when properly implemented, will help us avoid using taxpayers ’ money for bank bail - outs. the banking union may also be complemented by structural reforms, as suggested by the high - level expert group on reforming the eu banking sector. 2 the european commission is currently finalising its stance on the issue, and further proposals are expected in the near future. preparations for single supervisory mechanism today, i would like to focus on the status of preparations for the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ). the eu regulation assigning supervisory tasks to the ecb became effective in early november. already well ahead of this time, the ecb and national supervisors started practical preparations to ensure timely adoption of supervisory responsibilities by the ssm. as a concrete step, the ecb governing council nominated ms daniele nouy, the current secretary general of the acpr, the french supervisory authority, for chair of the supervisory board of the new single supervisory mechanism. her nomination was confirmed yesterday by the european parliament. a broader recruitment process for supervisory management positions has also been launched by the ecb. the supervisory board of the ssm is now about to start its activities as soon as possible, most likely early next year. before the ecb assumes its supervisory responsibilities, there is an on - going transition period, during which a comprehensive assessment of significant banks is carried out. during the same period other preparations for the ssm are to be completed. before the assumption of the ssm supervisory role, the

authorities, but the ssm regulation assigns some macroprudential tasks also to the ecb. in particular, the ecb may decide on stricter measures than national authorities, using the counter - cyclical buffer or other macro - prudential tools provided for by the eu legislation. bis central bankers ’ speeches as a conclusion, i would like to end my presentation on a positive note, based on the fresh news we have heard from the ecofin meeting held the day before yesterday. discussions about the single resolution mechanism seem to be progressing, and we can expect some good results from brussels next week. bis central bankers ’ speeches