this enlargement, both in political as well as economic terms, are clear. however, this does not make it less of a challenge, also for the ecb and the national central banks. from mid april onwards, the national central banks of the acceding countries will participate - as an observer - in meeting of escb committees ( in extended composition ) and meetings of the general council. enlargement involves a number of technical efforts from the side of the ecb and the national central bank, in terms of adaptations to the infrastructure, but also creates a new dimension to economic convergence and monetary stability in the european union. i am, however, convinced that the eurosystem will also master this challenge, as it has done before, on occasions, which demanded even more breath - taking efforts. ladies and gentlemen, i should now like to conclude. again, my gratitude goes to his excellency carlo ciampi and governor antonio fazio. i am deeply convinced that this meeting of the governing council will contribute to the team - sprit of the eurosystem and hence will be one more step in the direction of a united europe.

sabine lautenschlager : four years of banking union - where do we stand? opening statement by ms sabine lautenschlager, member of the executive board of the european central bank and vice - chair of the supervisory board of the european central bank, at the banking supervision, resolution and risk management conference during the 21st euro finance week, frankfurt am main, 13 november 2018. * * * it ’ s a pleasure to attend euro finance week again this year. this is a good opportunity to reflect on the state of the banking union and the single supervisory mechanism, or ssm. four years ago, at the start of this ambitious project, scepticism was rife. despite the general consensus that european supervision and a banking union were necessary complements to a monetary union, many questioned whether this was a realistic goal. without wanting to sound overconfident, i believe we have largely proved the sceptics wrong. tough and fair european supervision, backed by tougher regulation, has contributed to making our banking sector significantly safer and sounder. i will highlight just two of many relevant issues : in general, banks now hold more and better - quality capital than in the past. the fully - loaded cet1 ratio of significant institutions was 13. 8 % in the second quarter of this year, up by 2. 6 percentage points compared with the last quarter of 20141 we have also made significant progress with something that each and every supervisor is concerned with : non - performing loans, or npls. banks are holding significantly lower levels of npls on their balance sheets. for banks under direct ecb supervision, the gross npl ratio fell from €958 billion when the ssm was launched to €688 billion in the first quarter of this year. there is still some work to do here, and it should be done quickly while the sun is still shining. of course, the ssm is not the only pillar of this banking union. tougher supervision does not mean that there will never be another bank failure. it is neither our task nor our objective to prevent each and every bank from exiting the market. banks can and should exit the market if they are managed in a risky and unsound manner, or if they are structurally incapable of maintaining their competitiveness based on a sound business model. but they should do so in an orderly fashion. and thanks to the second pillar of the banking union, the single resolution mechanism, we are now better equipped