This was not always conducive to financial stability in other Member States or in the euro area as a whole. Governments and market participants trust the ECB in its role as an established, supranational institution to supervise the banks impartially and in the best interests of Europe. And many in the ECB were also somewhat sceptical to start with.
When all’s said and done, our reputation is at stake. That’s why we have always insisted on certain basic principles, including a strict separation between supervision and monetary policy. These basic principles also apply during actual implementation. For example, we separate monetary policy and supervision by separating employees who are involved in supervision from monetary policy at an organisational level.