As Don Kohn recently said, “We may not be able to make better drivers, but we can make cars and roads safer to reduce damage when accidents happen”.2 The creation of a banking union and the comprehensive assessment leading up to it are essential steps in improving the governance of the financial sector in the euro area and increasing its resilience.
Trust in central banks Let me turn now to the question that was perhaps the most fundamental for Curzio, namely how central banks can build trust. Indeed Curzio viewed not only central banks, but also money itself, as an institution backed by public trust. Let me quote from him: “The mistake that neo- classical theories make is to consider money a commodity.