Are EU banks safe?; Zijn EU banken veilig?

`Are EU banks safe? is of interest to those involved in the debate on changing or maintaining the way prudential banking supervision is structured and performed. It builds on the descriptive companion book `EU Banking Supervision by the same author, but focuses on what banking supervision should do, and whether it is deliverable. Do and can banks and supervisors deliver what it says on the box, and is the description on the box correct in the first place? This analysis flows from the personal experience and expertise of the author, gathered as a customer of banks, as a legal, supervisory, and policy advisor on banking regulation, and from his involvement in national, EU and worldwide negotiations on new legislation. The book asks questions about whether the current focus on quantitative demands and incremental improvements is correct; whether the definition of `bank covers all institutions that should be as safe as a bank; and who is responsible if banks, their regulators and their supervisors fail? Roel Theissen (1968) has worked in the area of banking  supervision since 1997; first at the Dutch banking supervisor, then on secondment to CEBS (the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, which has since become the European Banking Authority). He focused on regulation and policy development both domestically (in the Netherlands) and cross border (within the EU and in the Basel context). His investigation of banks and their functioning also led him to study cooperation across sectors, with insurance and securities supervisors. Since 2009 he has been lecturing and writing on prudential supervision in the financial sector.