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Since the financial crisis started in 2008, the European Commission has worked hard to learn all the lessons from the crisis and create a safer and sounder financial system in Europe. That is why the EU Member States agreed in June 2012 on creating a Banking Union in order to complete the Economic and Monetary Union in Europe. At the core of the new Banking Union is the centralised application of EU-wide rules for banks in the Eurozone, and any non-euro Member States that voluntarily want to join. The primary aim of this work is to bring together all of the different aspects that come along with the European Banking Union and identify the major changes for the supervisory architecture of the European banking system. The fundamental question is whether the Banking Union in its current state can or cannot achieve its major objectives, which are: resolving the existing bank weaknesses, restoring the effectiveness of the monetary policy of the ECB and reintegrating the European banking system in order to make future banking crises less likely to occur.

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Lukas Feiner, MSc, BA (Econ), born 1991 in Graz, Austria. Studies in Business Administration and Economics at the University of Graz. Since 2015, employment as Junior Portfolio Manager and Financial Analyst. Key activities: Fixed Income and Strategic Asset Allocation.

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