Professor Philip Lane:

It is important to emphasise that one of the remedies to tackle that issue is building a culture of internal challenge, that is, the ability to speak up and speak out. There is also a very important role for the board in that regard. The non-executive members of a board, in particular, have that duty to hold the executives to account. In addition to what we can do as a regulator, the first line in managing the risk of over-optimism is having independent directors who are prepared to be independent. That is part of how we review people when we conduct fitness and probity checks for those going on bank boards. It is now an arduous process. It is a significant process and a component of the single supervisory mechanism, SSM, for the banks. On the internal dynamics on bank committees and so on, having the ability to speak out against any overarching culture is very important.