By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson said Tuesday that ECB Banking Supervision would launch a review in mid-October of outstanding supervisory measures, reducing follow-up on lower-severity issues and potentially closing some where further assessment was no longer warranted.

The vice chair of the ECB’s Supervisory Board said the exercise would review measures accumulated in recent years according to their severity, prudential relevance, remediation status, the time elapsed since they were identified and the likelihood that further supervisory intervention would be required.

“So, in short, our approach is simpler where possible, more intrusive where needed,” Elderson said in remarks prepared for an Austrian Financial Market Authority conference in Vienna.

By the end of 2025, significant banks had around 12,000 outstanding supervisory measures, or around 100 per bank on average, Elderson said.

He said the stock was already declining, with 1,200 more measures closed than created in 2025 and a further reduction of 600 so far this year.

Under the more risk-based approach, the least severe findings would in future be communicated as supervisory observations rather than generating measures, while some low-severity findings and measures could be closed where further supervisory assessment was no longer warranted, Elderson said.

At the same time, supervisors needed to be prepared to escalate where material weaknesses were not addressed in a timely manner, including through capital requirements, business restrictions or periodic penalty payments, he said.

“[A]ll supervisory findings need to be remediated in a timely and durable manner,” Elderson said.

Elderson said the changes were not lowering supervisory standards or reducing resilience, but would allow supervisors to concentrate more forcefully where necessary on the issues that mattered most.