As a result of these trends, the NPL stock is diminishing at a remarkable pace (Fig. 3). Including the sales that will be completed in the next few months, by mid-2018 the volume of NPLs net of provisions will amount to less than € billion, almost one third below the peak of 2015.
Any new responsibility that may be assigned to the central bank should be carefully examined in order not to compromise the bank’s credibility. Second, the regulatory and especially the supervisory framework for financial institutions should be greatly enhanced.