FRANKFURT (MNI) – Upcoming EU-wide stress tests will be more
comprehensive and detailed than the previous round of testing, European
Central Bank Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo assured
Thursday.
“As the crisis is still unfolding, we cannot tell with certainly
how our economic and financial systems will function in the future,” the
central banker told an audience in his native Spain, according to an
English translation provided in advance by the ECB.
Still, an economic and financial “new normal” will arise
post-crisis, Gonzalez-Paramo predicted.
One of the main elements of the “new normal,” based on previous
experiences of systemic banking crises, is an “evolving role of central
banks (stronger inclination towards ‘leaning against the wind’ policies
and the assignment of macroprudential objectives),” he argued.
“The forthcoming EU-wide stress tests will be more comprehensive
and detailed than the previous exercise, thereby playing an even more
important role in supporting banks’ access to medium- and long-term
funding,” he predicted.
The future of the banking sector in the aftermath of the crisis “is
an issue of crucial importance for our economic welfare, given the
fundamental role played by banks in most European countries,” he said.
“This is why it is important to stress that there is still much
work to be done before we can exit the crisis,” he concluded.
[TOPICS: MGX$$$,MT$$$$,M$$CR$,M$X$$$,M$I$$$,M$$EC$]
