Buch links supervisory independence to strict public accountability
ECB Supervisory Board Chair Claudia Buch called for systematic external scrutiny of banking supervision. Speaking at a conference in Frankfurt, Buch emphasized that supervisory independence demands strict public accountability and transparent evaluation of policy outcomes.
Accountability beyond the courtroom
ECB Supervisory Board Chair Claudia Buch stressed that the exercise of public powers by independent supervisory authorities requires proportional transparency and scrutiny.
Speaking at Goethe University Frankfurt, Buch noted that while central bank watchers are common, supervisory watchers remain scarce despite the direct impact of banking oversight on savers, firms and taxpayers.
Buch highlighted that although banks immediately experience supervisory decisions, resulting in established routes for administrative and judicial review, the systemic repercussions extend across society.
“Our independence requires accountability and transparency: the public must be able to assess how we use the responsibility we are given,” Buch said during her keynote address.
Good policy or good luck
Evaluating supervisory efficacy requires addressing complex transmission channels and counterfactual scenarios.
Buch raised key analytical questions regarding whether financial stability stems from deliberate policy decisions or favorable macroeconomic conditions.
Supervisory assessment must determine how banks would have performed without regulatory interventions and identify potential unintended side effects on the wider economy.
Buch stressed that assessing these non-linear mechanisms requires dedicated research and external academic analysis across European markets.
Supervisors need real critics
Buch rightly points out the blind spot in public scrutiny of European banking oversight.
Yet inviting outside critique will accomplish little if authorities continue to treat supervisory models and stress-test assumptions as guarded black boxes.
True institutional accountability begins when supervisors release the granular data researchers need to test those very policies.