BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  With that balance in mind, let us take a tour through the day-to-day operations of European banking supervision and see where we stand. 3. Supervising “significant institutions”  The banks most immediately affected by the new system are the 123 banks that fall under direct ECB responsibility.
The ECB has 1,000 employees, most of whom are located in Frankfurt, to supervise these mostly very large and complex banking groups. Since these institutions are located in 19 different countries, the ECB has to rely on the support provided by the national supervisors, on their expertise and experience, on their resources, and on their presence on the ground.