On 4 November, the European Central Bank started to directly supervise 120 largest eurozone´s banks. With this move, the banking union´s first pillar, the so-called Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), came into practice. Earlier, the ECB carried out an unprecedented in-depth review of eurozone´s banks, revealing serious problems in 13 of them. The 120 banks under direct ECB supervision represent 82% of all bank assets in the eurozone. Other 3500 banks will be supervised by national supervisors in cooperation with the ECB. The start of the SSM comes after a lengthy preparatory process and should make eurozone´s banking system more resilient, thus ensuring financial stability for the slowly recovering euro area. The other two pillars of the banking union are the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and single rulebook for financial actors. The single rulebook is already in practice and the SRM starts to phase in.

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