Banks, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services

Eesti Pank's deputy president Madis Müller said that it is important that eventually a wholesome banking alliance would emerge where other aspects would be important too besides supervision. Eesti Pank does not see Sweden possibly staying out of the alliance as a major problem.

Müller said that the EU is moving in the right direction and changes help strengthen the EU and euro area economy and banking sector. He said though that it wouldn’t be good if eventually the banking alliance would be an incomplete one, it is important that the common deposits guarantee and crisis management mechanism also started working.

"This means additional risks for states. This means that responsibility and decision authority would not be in harmony in organising the banking sector and eventually that would be bad, but on the other hand, when thinking about the first practical steps of today, the best thing would be to launch common banking sector supervision," said Müller.

Initially banking supervision will cover 17 euro area states. This means that the homeland of the largest banks operating in Estonia, Sweden, would be left out. Madis Müller said that organising practical work regarding supervision requires then a longer discussion in Estonia but he sees no reason why a solution could not be found.