IAFEI Quarterly - 31st Issue

Speech New York City | 04.12.2015

Dr Andreas Dombret Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank

Firm as a rock

is bank capital an all

purpose tool? The example of sovereign

debt regulation

Public Speech at Columbia University

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1 Introduction

Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak at Columbia University. It is a pleasure to

be here again. It is always inspiring to participate in such an academic environment. I was

here three years ago and fondly remember talking to students.

When I was here last in November 2012, I talked about the crisis in the euro area. At that

time, the topic was a good pick. Since then, much has happened in terms of regulatory and

supervisory reform in Europe. One prominent example is the creation of the European

Banking Union, which aims to introduce a supranational perspective into European

supervision. We have, since November 4, 2014, created a Single Supervisory Mechanism and

the Single Resolution Mechanism will follow in less than a month. The ECB here assumed

responsibility for supervising - in cooperation with national supervisors - about 120 largest

banks in the euro area. These banks account for more than 85% of the aggregate balance sheet

of the euro area’s banking sector, making the

ECB one of the biggest banking supervisors in

the world. The Bundesbank very much supports this development.

Ladies and gentlemen, one prominent Columbian, as you call yourselves, was Theodore

Roosevelt. He once said: "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right

thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

IAFEI Quarterly | Issue 31 | 51