Strategic decisions need to be made on establishing relevant competent authorities tasked with the responsibility of resolving banks and investment firms, on setting up resolution funds, and on the drawing up by the supervised entities of adequate plans for recovery or controlled restoration of their viability by restructuring. In connection with the new EU capital framework CRD4, in 2014 the BNB began to implement the new reporting framework for supervisory purposes (the so-called FINREP and COREP), consisting of over 100 separate reporting forms. The additional supervisory reporting will meet the accumulated information needs of the Banking Supervision Department and will tackle the most sensitive sources of risk in banks’ portfolios. In 2015 it is expected that the EU-wide banking supervision rules will become more and more common in banking practices. Numerous technical standards, developed by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and adopted by the European Commission, are going to be put in place. In supervising the subsidiaries of euro area banks, the BNB is going to cooperate actively with the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) which started in November 2014. Last but not least is the BNB’s intention to initiate an asset quality review of the entire banking system, which will cover all banks operating in Bulgaria. This will also be a key requirement if the government should decide, at some point, to start talks with the ECB for joining the SSM.
Ivan Iskrov: Review of 2014 as a starting point of reflection on the challenges ahead in Bulgaria Speech by Mr Ivan Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, before the Association of Banks in Bulgaria on the occasion of the Banker’s Day, Sofia, 4 December 2014. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m happy that we are together again on our professional holiday – on the celebration of the Banker’s Day, Saint Nicholas Day. Keeping the tradition, this year again, with the BNB Governing Council members we are marking the occasion with you – the management representatives of the banks in Bulgaria. Please accept our presence here as an expression of acknowledgement of your work and professional attitude in running your entrusted institutions. Also, today we would like to underscore our appreciation of the efforts and contribution of many of you here for safekeeping the financial stability in our country. The banks deserve congratulations for the positive results the sector has achieved amid a very unfavourable market, media and political backdrop in 2014. At the same time, let us use the recapitulation of this year as a starting point of reflection about the challenges that may lie ahead. The passing year has proved one of the toughest for the banking system in Bulgaria since the time of the big crisis in 1996–1997. The reasons for this have been several and I would conditionally divide them into two groups.