The new rules of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) for dealing with non-performing loans will make an effective contribution to further scaling back crisis-era legacy risks, writes Bundesbank Executive Board member Joachim Wuermeling in an op-ed for the Handelsblatt. They are “ambitious, flexible and consistent”. However, the ECB cannot be expected to lay down generally applicable rules because it has no legislative powers to do so, Mr Wuermeling added.

Benefits from the segregation of duties

Benefits from the segregation of duties

Claudia Buch underlines the benefits of a European capital markets union.

Crises tend to occur unexpectedly and are a threat to financial stability. In an op-ed published in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, Claudia Buch explains that, as a result of the financial crisis, banks need to hold more equity capital in order to be more resilient. As the Bundesbank’s number two writes, "Higher equity capital is the key to a resilient financial system".

Bundesbank Executive Board member Joachim Wuermeling is calling for the financial centres of the European Union to come together to work as a single networked financial platform. At present, their overall potential is spread across the entire continent, he writes in an oped for the Handelsblatt. In his view, a digital financial market union "would be a highly ambitious new project that would be worth the effort to make it work".