To begin with, the EBA will remain responsible for developing regulatory policy and technical standards that will form the basis of a single rulebook for banks across Europe. The creation of the SSM should help this process, as having a significant number of countries participating in the SSM will reduce the scope for coordination failures, thus making the EBA’s coordination function easier.
I am honored to be part of this milestone this evening. In the last ten months, Westpac has opened branches in Port Denarau (September 2007) and Nakasi (November 2007). Westpac now has the second largest number of bank branches and agencies in Fiji. That is an impressive progress.