BIS Review 68/2008  5  Over the past several decades, the growing importance of broker-dealers and the increasing interconnections of these institutions with other parts of the financial marketplace have accompanied the shift to intermediation through securities markets rather than through commercial banks.
The recent set of stress tests coordinated by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, in close collaboration with the ECB and the European Commission, may represent a useful example. A third area of cooperation concerns the formulation of risk warnings and policy recommendations. The ESAs as well as the national supervisory authorities will play a very important role in discussions regarding the ESRB.