Ten years of banking resolution – Lessons learnt from the financial crises, and are we prepared enough for new threats?

The first panellists, Mr. Erkki Liikanen, Head of the IFRS Institute Foundation Trustee and former Governor of the Bank of Finland, Ms. Tuija Taos, Board Member at EU’s Single Resolution Board (SRB) and founder and the first Director General of FFSA and Mr. Frank Vang-Jensen, CEO for Nordea Group, highlighted the role of coordinated cooperation between the authorities and the Financial Sector, as well as the role of preparedness in securing financial stability. 

The discussion revisited the events of the global financial crisis and the notion of how crucial it is to ensure, by all possible means, that such chaos will never be repeated. In the aftermath of the crisis, agreement on the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and the Banking Union was reached within an exceptionally short timeframe.

Both authorities and banks have made excellent progress in enhancing crisis preparedness and resolution capabilities, but emerging threats must also be addressed. In addition to intensified information influence operations and cyberattacks, new types of actors emerging within the sector may also pose risks, as many of them are not always fully covered by the current financial stability regulation and supervision. To ensure strong preparedness and operational capability in challenging situations, both the sector and the authorities must now and in the future place greater emphasis on effective cooperation and testing that reaches down to the operational level. 

In the second panel of the afternoon, Mr. Christian-Marc Lifländer, Head of Defence Policy Section at NATO, Ms. Leena Mörttinen, Permanent Under-Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Ms. Elisabeth Braw, Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council that focuses on foreign- and security policy and trans-Atlantic relations, shared their views on the impact of the current geopolitical security situation on societies. 

Citizens, businesses, and public authorities must each take responsibility for advancing preparedness efforts within their own roles. While the role of governments in managing recent disruptions has grown, the panellists emphasised that the public sector cannot fund or guarantee all operations with fiscal resources, nor can a completely disruption-free system ever exist. Therefore, targeted investments and building resilience through European-level cooperation are of paramount importance.

In his closing words Mr. Jaakko Weuro, Director General of FFSA, expressed gratitude to the FFSA’s partners for their excellent cooperation over the years. He also thanked the FFSA staff for their strong expertise and solution-oriented approach. 

– Over the past ten years, we have established our position as a key actor in safeguarding financial market stability – and we'll stand prepared for all crises also in the future, Mr. Weuro stated.

The Financial Stability Authority (FA) was established in 2015 as part of a broad set of measures aimed at preventing banking crises and ensuring that, in the event of a crisis, even large banks can be resolved or wound down in an orderly manner without the need for public financial support. In 2022, the FFSA’s mandate was expanded to include securing daily payment services in case that serious disruptions or emergency conditions would prevent the use of normal payment systems.