This will safeguard our independence and credibility as monetary policy maker and will ensure that monetary policy is not affected by considerations outside of the realm of monetary policy, for example the state of the banking sector. This is particularly important in the context of our emergency liquidity assistance (ELA), the provision of which is based on a sound and reliable solvency assessment. In the future, we will have these assessments at hand “in house”. Moreover, a strong resolution framework, with effective tools for orderly resolution, will in turn help to remove the pressure on the central bank to unduly prolong the life of banks through liquidity provision. Second, the banking union will help to unwind the reliance of the euro area banking sector on central bank intermediation. As mentioned, during this crisis we have activated a set of nonstandard monetary policy tools that – by nature – were intended to alleviate impaired monetary policy transmission and ultimately serve our primary objective to maintain price stability in the euro area. By alleviating funding pressures and undue risks in securities markets, our measures have provided temporary relief for the banking sector and complemented policy efforts on the financial stability front. However, our measures cannot and should not solve the underlying structural problems. This is a task for governments and the banking industry.
Various actors in the economy may be relieved from pressures to take up their own responsibilities, thereby lowering the incentives to correct imbalances, unwind past excesses and redress the course of unsustainable economic and financial policies. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Second – and more fundamentally – non-standard monetary policy cannot solve the underlying structural economic and financial problems. The banking union – restoring financial stability and reintegrating financial markets The banking union aims at building an integrated financial framework to safeguard financial stability. To this end, it is absolutely imperative to have both an EU framework for single supervision, the SSM, as well as an integrated resolution framework, the SRM. Stability comes from having two pillars. The Single Supervisory Mechanism One particular institutional shortcoming of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) derives from the inconsistency between a single monetary policy and national supervisory competences. A step up of supervisory powers to the supranational level was therefore needed to reverse financial fragmentation, with a view to breaking the link between sovereigns and banks, restoring the principle of self-responsibility and avoid objectionable transfers. By centralising supervision, the SSM should ensure uniform practices across Europe and overcome the home-host cross-border supervisory discussions and the associated national bias. The establishment of a single supervisor marks a new epoch in the EU financial framework, which may be comparable to the creation of monetary union at the end of the last century.