ignazio visco : legal foundations of the single supervisory mechanism - a retrospective look at future challenges opening address by mr ignazio visco, governor of the bank of italy, at the " ssm regulation, ten years since " conference, organised by the bank of italy in cooperation with the university of rome " roma tre " and the paolo ferro - luzzi " grandangolo " research centre, rome, 20 october 2023. * * * on june 29, 2012, the heads of state and government of the euro - area countries issued a statement announcing that the commission would present a proposal on the basis of article 127 ( 6 ) of the treaty on the functioning of the european union ( tfeu ) for a single supervisory mechanism. this was meant to be a forceful response to the severe stress experienced by the banking sector in the wake of the global financial crisis and the harsh consequences of the sovereign debt crisis that had hit some of the euro - area economies. just over a year later, that statement was followed by the adoption of the single supervisory mechanism ( ssm ) regulation on october 15, 2013. at that juncture, given the urgency, it was decided not to amend the treaties, but to leverage on the enabling clause of the above mentioned article 127 ( 6 ) tfeu, which in any case prescribes a complex and burdensome legislative process, to entrust the european central bank ( ecb ) with extensive and direct micro - prudential supervisory powers over the most important ('significant') banks of the euro area, while at the same time also granting the ecb substantial powers to guide and coordinate the prudential supervision of smaller ('less significant') credit institutions that remained at national level. the regulation – whose tenth anniversary we are celebrating today – represented a pioneering experiment in the field of eu administrative law, marking a major advance in the eu integration process. while it involved a substantial transfer of national sovereignty to the ecb, the ssm was conceived as a network with no legal autonomous personality, with a union institution at its centre – indeed, the ecb – vested for this purpose with considerable direct and intrusive administrative powers visa - vis third parties. the national competent authorities ( ncas ) were required to assist the ecb'in the preparation and implementation'of the acts necessary to perform the supervisory tasks. this included the assessment, on an ongoing basis, of banks'situations, and on - site inspections.

abdulrahman a al - hamidy : brief overview of the saudi arabian insurance industry speech by his excellency dr abdulrahman a al - hamidy, vice governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency ( sama ), at the first symposium on insurance, held at the institute of banking, riyadh, 22 – 23 march 2011. * * * it gives me pleasure to welcome you all to the first symposium that the saudi insurance industry has organized in collaboration with the institute of banking. i hope more such events will be organized to discuss future plans to expand insurance activities, and to set up mechanisms to improve the working environment of the insurance industry to enable it to serve better. dear audience, thanks to allah, that the saudi economy has witnessed considerable economic and social development since the turn of the century. this has largely resulted from the restructuring of the economy and improvement in the regulatory apparatus that has greatly facilitated domestic and foreign investment and thereby has helped enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy. the non - oil real gdp has grown by an annual average of 4. 4 percent in the past five years. the private sector production went up by 4. 5 percent and its contribution to real gdp increased to 48. 8 percent in 2010 from 45. 5 percent in 2006. other key developments that took place during the last five years included : yearly state expenditure rising up to rls 2. 6 trillion ; decline in public debt to rls 167 billion ( 10. 2 percent of gdp ) ; annual current account surplus averaging $ 75 billion and increase of more than rls 550 billion in bank assets. according to the world bank group report, the kingdom has been ranked eleventh in the world and first in the east region in terms of doing business and provision of competitive environment in 2010. the development witnessed by the kingdom during previous years has been comprehensive and broad - based. vast number of development projects to modernize infrastructure, and improve facilities to provide water, electricity, health and educational services have been approved. therefore, it is expected that strong growth of the saudi economy will continue unabated and this will expand the financial sector in general and the insurance sector in particular. dear audience, insurance companies play a key role for the development and stability of public and private sectors by providing opportunities to individuals and firms to improve their risk profiles and obtain compensation for losses incurred. it is for this reason that sama has been keen in regulating the insurance sector in accordance with the national and international standards and practices.