And in an environment where bank profitability is weak, and where macroeconomic stabilisation policies are already at full throttle, the benefits of such cross-border integration – efficiency and risk-sharing – are even more in demand. Thus a true banking union needs to be completed in a reasonable period of time.
4 See Klaus, B. and Sotomayor, B. (2018), “Bond funding of euro area banks: progress in the issuance of loss-  absorbing instruments”, Financial Stability Review, ECB, November, Box 7. 5 See Huljak, I., Mikkonen, K., Móré, C. and Perales, C. (2018), “Digitalisation and its impact on banks’ costs and  profitability”, Financial Stability Review, ECB, November, Box A.