This helps us to be unbiased, holistic and forwardlooking. And we benefit from our European viewpoint, of course. Unlike national supervisors, we can compare and benchmark 125 banking groups across the entire euro area. That is a big advantage. Altogether, we have defined nine different categories of business model, ranging from large universal banks and domestic lenders to specialised asset managers.
Allow me to elaborate on these points in greater detail: IV In view of the progressive integration of European financial markets accompanying EMU, there is a greater need for co-ordination between the European supervisory authorities and a need to press on with the process of the European harmonisation of banking legislation, which has already made considerable headway.