30.10.2018  Welcome address Banco de España-SUERF Conference “Financial Disintermediation and the Future of the Banking Sector” Pablo Hernández de Cos Governor  Good morning. I would like to welcome you to the conference “Financial disintermediation and the future of the banking sector”, hosted by the Banco de España and co-organised with SUERF. Let me start by thanking our colleagues from SUERF for their participation and involvement in the conference. SUERF is a unique institution that has been very successful in creating an active network of academics, financial practitioners and policymakers for the analysis and discussion of monetary and financial issues. Its outreach is achieved through the organization of international events, such as today´s conference, publications and a very active sponsoring of research. It is well known that capital markets in Europe are less developed than in the United States. This is related to the more significant role played by banks in Europe for the provision of funding to firms than their US peers. To illustrate this, let me give you some figures. In 2017, the ratio of financing through fixed-income securities to total debt financing was 12% in the euro area versus 43% in the United States. Also, the ratio of equity market capitalisation over the domestic credit provided by banks to the private sector was almost four times larger in the United States than in the euro area at the end of 2016 according to the latest data provided by World Bank DataBank.
Before I conclude, let me briefly turn to the issue of accountability, which – as I said in my introduction – is essential to secure and reaffirm trust in the central bank. For the ECB, accountability to the people of Europe is not only a matter of good accountability practices. It is important for the central bank of a currency union to reach out to the whole euro area, to people in all parts of Europe and to spread trust in our currency, our institution and our policies. As I mentioned, the ECB is accountable to the people of the European Union and – as that Union is a representative democracy – to the European Parliament, which is the only European institution elected by popular vote. Our President regularly visits Parliament to report on and explain the ECB’s policies. The Governors of the national central banks in the Eurosystem have similar hearings before their national parliaments. In addition, we have a continuous dialogue with all relevant institutions involved in the European political process, such as the European Commission, and we have regular exchanges with the finance ministries of the euro area Member States. We also regularly report on and publish our monetary policy decisions. This panel today is one such occasion. Especially in times of crisis, when policies become less conventional and more complex, it is all the more important to carefully explain our decisions.