Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a real honour to address you today as we mark ten years since the establishment of the Single Resolution Mechanism.
Over the past decade, an enormous amount of work has gone into building this project, and it has truly proved its worth. It stands as a strong example of how European Member States can come together, cooperate, and build trust in one another.
From my own personal standpoint, I am delighted to celebrate this milestone. As a finance minister during the turbulent years of the eurozone and sovereign debt crisis, I experienced firsthand what it meant to resolve a bank without harmonised tools for managing failures in an orderly way. That is why, for me, todays anniversary represents an occasion to highlight real progress, real lessons learned, and real stability gained.
Milestones like these are also moments for reflection. They remind us of why we worked so hard to strengthen Europes financial stability through reform and coordination.
They underline the lessons we have taken from the past and reinforce that while we cannot predict the future, we can certainly prepare for it. And we are stronger when we do so together.
In preparing for today, I looked back at the many achievements of the SRM since 2015. There are plenty to be proud of. So, to mark this anniversary, I would like to take a moment to highlight some of those milestones, and the impact they have had on Europes financial system.
The first success that I believe deserves recognition was the creation of the SRM itself, which means we need to go back even further than ten years, to 2012 when this proposal was announced as a part of the Banking Union.
The aim was to break the doom loop between banks and their national governments by creating a single, EU-level authority with the power and resources to manage bank failures.
Before this proposal, a joint approach to bank resolution in Europe was unthinkable. We simply had not taken such a big step in terms of our financial market integration until that point.
And turning this proposal into reality was not a smooth process. It was highly political and contentious, and needed to be handled with care to ensure that the outcome would be something that could be effective in practice.
It also took significant political will.
This achievement gives me renewed confidence as we put forward our proposals to bring the Savings and Investments Union to life. Just as we succeeded with the Single Resolution Mechanism, our progress now depends on Member States recognising the tangible benefits of moving past narrow self-interest, and towards true European financial integration.
The Single Resolution Fund is another considerable achievement under the SRM and deserves to be mentioned.
The Fund is a powerful financial backstop, financed by the banking sector itself to protect taxpayers from future bailouts. By building a shared, mutualised fund, it represents a profound step forward in trust and solidarity.
The Fund began its build-up phase in 2016, with the goal of reaching a target size of at least 1 percent of all covered deposits in the Banking Union by the end of 2023. This target was successfully met, with the fund reaching approximately 80 billion euros by late 2024. Additionally, the national deposit guarantee schemes have together already collected 55 billion euros.
This creates a safety buffer contributing to the resilience of our banking system to possible shocks.
The Single Resolution Mechanisms watershed moment came in 2017 with the resolution of Banco Popular in Spain.
At the time, it was still untested, and there was widespread concern about the possibility of yet another public bailout in Europe.
The result was a swift and decisive resolution of the bank, thanks to the efforts from the Single Resolution Board and the Spanish national authorities to implement a resolution scheme with no delay.
The entire process was completed overnight, and no public money was spent in the process. Europe breathed a sigh of relief that day.
The first orderly resolution of a major European bank without a public bailout sent a powerful message of stability and trust. It demonstrated the EUs commitment to the new rules and provided concrete proof that the doom loop between banks and Member States could be broken.
Thanks to these successes, our European banking system is now strong and stable, and we can have confidence in its resilience.
Banks have been increasing their loss absorption capacity steadily. As of end-2024, the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities resources of significant institutions in the Banking Union were around 34 percent of total risk exposure amount, on average.
While we can hope and work towards the best outcome, we have to prepare for the worst. And in this context, it is important to mention national authorities and their important work, alongside the Single Resolution Board, to put in place detailed resolution plans for each banking group.
In June, this year, the EU co-legislators also reached a political agreement on the review of the bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework.
This reform will improve the way we deal with the failure of small and mid-size banks, and is an important milestone to advance the Banking Union.
Looking ahead, there is still more progress to make.
Our Banking Union remains unfinished, and while our banking market has become stronger, it can and should become even more resilient.
A key step will be finding a way forward on a European deposit insurance scheme, a task that President von der Leyen has specifically entrusted me with. This is essential to give citizens and businesses full confidence that their bank deposits are safe, no matter where they are in the Union.
We are also working to create a more integrated and globally competitive European banking sector.
A genuine single market for banking can unlock enormous potential. It could allow our banks to operate seamlessly across borders, and in doing so, deliver better and cheaper services, and more affordable financing for households and businesses alike.
Our work towards a more competitive Europe also means simpler rules. Commission President von der Leyen has made it clear that simplification is a priority for the rest of this mandate and will be a key lever to bring about a more competitive European economy.
This ambition lies at the heart of our work on the Savings and Investments Union. And to drive it forward, the Commission will publish next year a comprehensive report on the state of our banking system in the Single Market, including an evaluation of the sectors competitiveness.
In closing, I want to commend you all on your hard work and wish you continued success in ensuring a secure and resilient financial system in Europe.
Thank you.
