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Questo articolo è stato pubblicato il 19 dicembre 2013 alle ore 18:52.

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To borrow the philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s famous taxonomy, a supervisor is like a fox; it knows many small things, is flexible, and constantly adapts its survival strategy. A successful central bank is more like a hedgehog; it knows one big thing – that it must remain focused on low inflation. Slow and predictable decision-making is a virtue for such a creature, but it is maladapted for the fast-moving and complex world of twenty-first-century banks.

So the real challenge facing Nouy in her new role at the ECB is to teach the hedgehog new, fox-like tricks. Ideally, she would be aided by a revised decision-making structure, with a new seat of authority able to support the supervisory teams with fast rulings. But the need to avoid treaty amendments rules this out.

One hopes that the new supervisory board can grow into its role – and that the ECB Governing Council will give it the space to do so. The future of Europe’s banking system depends on it.

Howard Davies, former Chairman of Britain’s Financial Services Authority, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and Director of the London School of Economics, is a professor at Sciences Po in Paris.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013.

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