Not only do the supervisory authorities watch over the continuity of financial institutions with a view to overall financial stability, they also seek to protect those who have entrusted their money to banks.
The countries that found themselves in the top of the chart when the sovereign debt tensions started in 2009 – that is Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Italy – all ran into trouble one after the other. This is no coincidence. Currently, adjustments are hard-handedly being enforced by the markets.