Yves Mersch: The Banking Union – a European perspective: reasons, benefits and challenges of the Banking Union Speech by Mr Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the seminar “Auf dem Weg zu mehr Stabilität – Ein Dialog über die Ausgestaltung der Bankenunion zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis”, organised by Europolis and Wirtschaftswoche, Berlin, 5 April 2013.
*  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me focus on three specific reasons for the establishment of a European Banking Union: first, delinking sovereigns and banks and fostering the reintegration of financial markets, second, avoiding national bias in supervision, and third, restoring the proper transmission of monetary policy. The importance of preventing sovereign problems from spreading to banks (e.g.