[Check against delivery]
[Introduction]
Good morning to each of you.
Thank you for taking the time to be with us here today, whether you are joining us physically in this magnificent conference centre, or online, your participation is appreciated. I hope we will have a lively day of discussion and debate as we discuss The road ahead: risk, readiness and resilience.
You will have seen, no doubt, that we have a packed agenda, with top class speakers. I want to say a special thanks to each and every one of our speakers, because without their time, this event could simply not happen.
Let me come back to the title of our event today, because each term matters. The “road ahead” means we are still travelling towards more financial stability, with a number of “risks”, growing and/or evolving around us. That is why we, altogether, banks, authorities, and all the other stakeholders, need to be “ready”, which is the only condition to be able to increase the global “resilience” of our Banking Union banking system even more.
From that perspective, today is a very important day in the life of the SRB and the SRM as a whole, because we are launching a new vision, SRM VISION 2028, which is precisely connected to the different terms I have just commented on.
Together, we have achieved much these past years and now we have to evolve, having reached several key milestones. On the whole, MREL deadlines have been met, the banks have made significant progress to comply with the SRB “expectations for banks” and the Single Resolution Fund has reached its target level of 1% of total covered deposits.
[Strategy]
The SRM vision 2028 is a new step in a more mature SRB. It is a new milestone in the SRB’s life.
The strategy will guide us forward and it will be a process of evolution not revolution.
This vision is a result of the strategic review we initiated of our operations, and in consultation with many of you attending this conference today – and let me thank you for your valuable contributions. We put together SRM Vision 2028 to help us to manage the risks and to ensure we are ready and resilient to meet the challenges of the road ahead.
Shortly we will show you a video that will give a snapshot of the strategy, but let me give a few highlights first.
The strategy is based around three areas:
The first is our core business. The strategy will focus on the need to further improve our crisis preparedness. We will develop integrated tools to respond to already known and any potential emerging crisis circumstances. We will work on crisis-oriented resolution planning with an embedded risk-based approach. We will review our resolution planning activities to focus more on the operational aspects and on testing banks capabilities to handle a crisis. We will also perform on-site inspections. The SRM will work to be the global reference in the resolution field, improve knowledge management and keep building relations with European agencies and institutions, as well as international relations.
The second area of the strategy is in relation to governance and organisational matters. Here we want to strengthen our structures so that we become more streamlined, more efficient and more transparent, in particular towards the industry. Let me mention here two first examples:
- Last week we published our calendar of surveys and requests to banks for the whole 2024 year. This unprecedented publication goes exactly in the direction of more transparency and predictability.
- Another example is the MREL policy consultation we launched two months ago. Today is the last day for answering, and I am sure that your answers will help us defining the future of our policy in this important area.
Through the second pillar of our new strategy, I also want to reinforce the SRB-NRAs’ integration and build a common culture within the SRM. We will also take advantage of the digital transformation and reinforce the SRM’s and SRB’s data capabilities. We will increase our framework on cybersecurity.
The third area of SRM Vision 2028 is focused on human resources – a key component of any organisation. We want to harness the potential of a motivated, young pool of talent by ensuring more internal and external mobility and career development aspects, improved staff training. We will also increase the focus on diversity and inclusion in the SRB.
Our new strategy – a strategy many of you helped to build - will better equip the SRM to deal with its various challenges, to ensure banks can be resolved, thus contributing to financial stability.
[Credit Suisse, SVB – almost 12 months on]
I am not forgetting that, just a few weeks into my mandate, we saw the turmoil of the US and Switzerland. Europe has emerged relatively unscathed following that market turmoil which began to emerge almost a year ago. That was the dividend of the regulatory, supervisory and, of course, of the resolution planning work of the last decade. 12 months on, we must remain vigilant as new threats emerge – from asset quality deterioration to heightened geopolitical risks.
That need to remain vigilant and to be able to deal with ever evolving threats is why, since I took up my role at the SRB at the start of last year, I made a few changes, while waiting for the strategy to be put together. For example, with my fellow Board Members, we established a unit in charge of crisis management and one in charge of risk management. Clearly, the aim of these new units is to enhance SRB efficiency and readiness to handle a crisis.
More broadly, looking ahead, I also hope that we will see the approval of CMDI soon, including all its parts. This reform is important to send a signal of trust into the resolution framework and in the Banking Union now and, ultimately, to make sure that our resolution toolbox is as complete as possible.
Whatever compromise the co-legislators may find on the CMDI’s funding equation, they need to make sure it delivers similar results to the Commission proposal. More concretely: if the scope of banks under SRB’s remit is extended, we need sufficient funding to execute successful resolution transfers.
Short of its funding element, the core of the CMDI proposal will lose coherence and we will find ourselves facing the possibility of having to resolve banks for which we do not have the right tools. Then, liquidation, often with the help of taxpayers’ money, may become the only option.
Let us see how the CMDI proposals advance in the weeks ahead. I am sure our panel will back to this topic in a moment!
[Conclusion]
Let me conclude. Today, as we gather here in Brussels, I want to assure you that we will continue to work hard, to continue delivering financial stability to all European citizens, at no cost to the taxpayer.
Perhaps to finish, a word on today’s conference: we have renewed its format, and as you have seen, this afternoon, you will have to select the panel you want to attend. Don’t worry, everything will be recorded and you will have access to the three, even if attending only one. This new approach will give us the possibility to address more topics in a dynamic format I hope.
We have also a good media contingent following today’s proceedings and indeed yesterday, I was pleased to meet some of you in advance of today’s conference – you are the storytellers, the ones who have an important role to play in ‘peacetime’, but also in a time of crisis.
And last but certainly not least, to all of you joining us here or online – I encourage you to take an active part in the discussion
Before closing, let me make an official announcement: Today I am pleased to announce to the banking sector that the SRB will not be issuing a request for contributions for this current year, 2024. We will finalise the details in the coming days. This moment was long-awaited, let’s enjoy it!
And now let’s find out a bit more about the SRM Vision 2028 with our short video!
Thank you.
Contact our communications team
