*  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, It is a great pleasure to be with you today and to have the opportunity to share with you some thoughts on financial stability in Europe. Systemic financial stability is a critical condition for achieving our common goals of prosperity and sustainable growth.
At the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, central banks and regulatory mechanisms lacked a well-tried toolbox for containing systemic instability and for preventing its build-up. With the measures taken and mechanisms established in subsequent years, that picture has changed substantially, as market participants, regulators, supervisors, macroprudential authorities and others quickly dealt with the challenges.