First, the comprehensive assessment, i.e. the health check of the banks, plays an essential role. The assessment of bank balance sheets aims to uncover bad debts and to place all banks with a solid capital base under the supervision of the SSM. And this assessment can have a catalytic effect.
Prior to the health check, most banks accelerated their deleveraging or built up their equity. The sum of bank balance sheets declined in 2013 alone by around 20 percentage points of GDP. Since July 2013, the nearly 130 banks have built up capital amounting to approximately € billion.