ECB Staff ‘Unsettled’ by Push to Shake Up Banking Supervision

Feb. 6, 2026, 7:56 AM UTC

European Central Bank employees are balking at comments by a top official who called for a new “mindset” for supervising the region’s biggest banks.

In a letter to Supervisory Board Chair Claudia Buch, the central bank’s staff committee said that recent remarks by Latvian board member Santa Purgaile left some colleagues “deeply unsettled,” according to the document seen by Bloomberg.

Santa Purgaile
Source: Latvian Central Bank

Purgaile argued in a Bloomberg interview in December that “changing people” may be necessary to prepare for the next phase of supervision, and that conservatism introduced after the financial crisis was a “psychological thing we need to address.” ...

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