The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important central banks with a balance sheet total of around 7 trillion.
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and Euratom governed under the Treaties of the European Union and European Union law. They are,as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
A non-performing loan (NPL) is a bank loan that is subject to late repayment or is unlikely to be repaid by the borrower in full. Non-performing loans represent a major challenge for the banking sector,as they reduce profitability. They are often claimed to prevent banks from lending more to businesses and consumers,which in turn slows economic growth,although this theory is disputed.
Margrethe Vestager is a Danish politician currently serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age since December 2019 and European Commissioner for Competition since 2014. Vestager is a member of the Danish Social Liberal Party,and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE) on the European level.
The president of the European Central Bank is the head of the European Central Bank (ECB),the main institution responsible for the management of the euro and monetary policy in the Eurozone of the European Union (EU)
The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services,the free movement of capital and payments,taxation and competition policies,oversight of the European Central Bank,and the international financial system.
Bulgaria plans to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. The Bulgarian lev has been on a currency board since 1997,with a fixed exchange rate initially against the Deutsche Mark and subsequently its replacement the euro. Bulgaria's target date for introduction of the euro was 1 January 2025. However,the 2024 ECB convergence report concluded that Bulgaria did not meet the convergence criteria due to high inflation,so this timeline has been delayed. The Bulgarian National Bank and several Bulgarian politicians have expressed their desire to join as soon as possible,and project that inflation will be low enough by the end of 2024. If Bulgaria adopts the euro,it will become the second national currency of the country after the lev,which was introduced over 140 years ago. The fixed exchange rate is 1.95583 lev for 1 euro.
Romania's national currency is the leu. After Romania joined the European Union (EU) in 2007,the country became required to replace the leu with the euro once it meets all four euro convergence criteria,as stated in article 140 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. As of 2023,the only currency on the market is the leu and the euro is not yet used in shops. The Romanian leu is not part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism,although Romanian authorities are working to prepare the changeover to the euro. To achieve the currency changeover,Romania must undergo at least two years of stability within the limits of the convergence criteria.
The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) is a group established on 16 December 2010 in response to the financial crisis. It is tasked with the macro-prudential oversight of the financial system within the European Union in order to contribute to the prevention or mitigation of systemic risks to financial stability in the EU. It shall contribute to the smooth functioning of the internal market and thereby ensure a sustainable contribution of the financial sector to economic growth.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) is a regulatory agency of the European Union headquartered in La Défense,Île-de-France. Its activities include conducting stress tests on European banks to increase transparency in the European financial system and identifying weaknesses in banks' capital structures.
Luis de Guindos Jurado is a Spanish politician serving as Vice-President of the European Central Bank since 2018. He previously served as Spain's Minister of Economy,Industry and Competitiveness from 2011 to 2018.
Claudia Maria Buch is a German economist who serves as Chair of the ECB Supervisory Board since 2024. She previously was a Vice President of the Bundesbank from 2014 to 2023.
European Banking Supervision,also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM),is the policy framework for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is centered on the European Central Bank (ECB),whose supervisory arm is referred to as ECB Banking Supervision. EU member states outside of the euro area can also participate on a voluntary basis,as was the case of Bulgaria as of late 2023. European Banking Supervision was established by Regulation 1024/2013 of the Council,also known as the SSM Regulation,which also created its central decision-making body,the ECB Supervisory Board.
The Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) is one of the pillars of the European Union's banking union. The Single Resolution Mechanism entered into force on 19 August 2014 and is directly responsible for the resolution of the entities and groups directly supervised by the European Central Bank as well as other cross-border groups. The centralised decision making is built around the Single Resolution Board (SRB) consisting of a chair,a Vice Chair,four permanent members,and the relevant national resolution authorities.
Roberto Gualtieri is an Italian historian,academic and politician of the Democratic Party (PD),incumbent Mayor of Rome since 2021 and Minister of Economy and Finances in the second government of Giuseppe Conte from 2019 until 2021. He previously was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019,where he chaired the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee within the Parliament from 2014 until 2019.
The European banking union refers to the transfer of responsibility for banking policy from the member state-level to the union-wide level in several EU member states,initiated in 2012 as a response to the 2009 Eurozone crisis. The motivation for the banking union was the fragility of numerous banks in the Eurozone,and the identification of a vicious circle between credit conditions for these banks and the sovereign credit of their respective home countries. In several countries,private debts arising from a property bubble were transferred to the respective sovereign as a result of banking system bailouts and government responses to slowing economies post-bubble. Conversely,weakness in sovereign credit resulted in deterioration of the balance sheet position of the banking sector,not least because of high domestic sovereign exposures of the banks.
The ninth European Parliament was elected during the 2019 elections and sat until the tenth European Parliament was sworn in on 16 July 2024.
The von der Leyen Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. It consisted of one commissioner from each of the member states of the European Union –including Ursula von der Leyen,its president,who is from Germany.
Fabio Panetta is an Italian economist who has been serving as Governor of the Bank of Italy since 2023. He previously served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 2020 until 2023. Prior to his ECB appointment,Panetta served as Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy and concurrently as President of the Institute for the Supervision of Insurance from May to December 2019.
Frank Elderson is a Dutch lawyer who has been serving as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since 2020.
