For the  5  D. Focarelli, F. Panetta and C. Salleo, “Why Do Banks Merge?”, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 34, No. 4, November 2002, pp. 1047–66. 6  It is in line with the euro-area average in relation to population (one branch per 1,800 inhabitants). 7  See McKinsey&Company, “Day of reckoning for European retail banking”, 2012.
We need to pay attention to all the elements in this statement. We should always bear in mind that the ultimate goal is to make our central banks more efficient in providing the services which are our responsibility. Meetings like this one are an opportunity to ask ourselves how well we are performing in this regard.