By linking public investment and growth-enhancing reforms, it will help ensure a stronger and more uniform recovery across the euro area and accelerate the green and digital transitions. Euro area banking sector developments and financial stability issues The improving economic environment has contributed to a decline in near-term financial stability risks. Continued fiscal support helped the corporate sector recover from the pandemic, although the situation continues to vary across industries and firms. With corporate insolvencies remaining subdued, bank loan performance turned out to be more resilient than initially feared, although it is still too early to assess the full impact of the pandemic. Positive asset quality and financial market developments supported the return of bank profitability to pre-pandemic levels, and the ECB’s stress test results published in July showed that the euro area banking system would be resilient to adverse economic developments. Amid reduced uncertainty, the Supervisory Board of the ECB decided not to extend its systemwide recommendation on banks’ capital distributions. Instead, it returned to the previous supervisory practice of discussing capital trajectories and dividend or share buy-back plans with each bank in the context of the normal supervisory cycle. The ECB reminded banks to remain prudent when deciding on distributions and not to underestimate the risk that additional losses may later have an impact on their capital trajectories. As the economic recovery takes hold, financial vulnerabilities associated with an upswing are building up.
Moreover, an enabling environment for the effective use of local currencies will bring about greater cost efficiency and stability for businesses and increase demand for local currency financial products. That will, in turn, be the impetus to strengthen regional financial markets’ development. 1/2  BIS central bankers' speeches  I am pleased that the event today is made possible by all three central banks, mutually agreeing to grant regulatory flexibilities to the appointed banks under these Frameworks, enabling them to provide a wider range of financial services under their respective jurisdictions. Taking this opportunity, I wish to introduce the appointed banks in Malaysia for these Frameworks, namely, Maybank Berhad, CIMB Berhad, RHB Berhad, Public Bank Berhad, Hong Leong Bank Berhad, Bangkok Bank Berhad, United Overseas Bank (UOB) Berhad and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTMU) Berhad. The implementation of these Frameworks will complement our existing close partnership and cooperation as neighbors, with common objectives and shared aspirations. On this note, I look forward to witness the growth in the use Indonesian rupiah, Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit for cross-border settlement of trade between Indonesia and Malaysia, and Thailand and Malaysia, respectively. 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches