Such anchoring is indispensable to supporting sustainable growth and employment and contributing to financial stability. Accordingly, we will continue to monitor very closely all developments over the period ahead. As regards fiscal policies, the need for ambitious and realistic fiscal exit and consolidation strategies is becoming increasingly pressing.
The Single Supervisory Mechanism started supervision nearly one year ago and its work is independent and separated from the ECB’s central banking activities. From the banks’ perspective, the introduction of the SSM means numerous changes. I will mention only a few of them. For cross-border banks, operating in multiple countries within the Banking Union, the SSM effectively simplifies their contacts with the authorities.