In many euro area countries, however, the national macroprudential authority is the central bank or a council of domestic authorities. In November last year, the ECB took over the responsibility of supervising banks in the euro area. It is less well-known that at the same time the ECB became the ultimate macroprudential decision-maker in the Banking Union.
More specifically, the ECB can apply higher requirements for specific macroprudential tools than proposed by the designated national macroprudential authorities, if it deems that the suggested national measures are inadequate. In the euro area, the role of national macroprudential policies is particularly important in general and also at the current juncture.