Secondly, and of equal importance, there has been the project of establishing a banking union – based on its single mechanisms of supervision, resolution and deposit guarantees. This has contributed to boosting confidence in the sustainability of the euro area by demonstrating that governments and parliaments were willing to take corrective measures to complete monetary union.
When governments entrusted us with setting up the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), we proceeded to execute a comprehensive assessment of the balance sheets of around 120 large euro area banks. This prompted many of them to take pre-emptive action to strengthen their balance sheets, including via asset sales and capital raising.