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When asked whether it was too soon for Spain to leave the programme, Regling told CNBC: "Not to the best of my knowledge". He added: "It would be very surprising if after all the scrutiny through which the Spanish banks went in the context of the ESM programme… if there were surprises now – we don't really expect that. These banks are well-restructured."
To take the burden of rescuing banks off the shoulders of governments in the future, European leaders have agreed to create a region-wide Banking Union which will provide supervision of the financial sector on a pan-European level. Regling said the European Stability Mechanism could play "several roles" as part of this Banking Union. "We can play our traditional role… We can provide macro-economic adjustment programmes, finance these programmes", he said, adding there was "always an important component for banking".
Regling gave the example of Greece's bailout, which included a €50 billion component earmarked for bank restructuring. "So this could happen again if necessary", he said. Similarly, the financial assistance provided to stump up Spain's financial sector, "could be repeated".