Welcome address by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB and Chair of the European Systemic Risk Board, at the ninth annual conference of the ESRB

Frankfurt am Main, 3 September 2025

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the ninth annual conference of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).

Having done my fair share of scuba diving, allow me to begin with a brief detour beneath the waves.

Submarines rely on sonar to navigate unseen depths and detect hidden dangers. Yet the ocean is never silent: it is filled with shifting currents, marine life and, increasingly, noise from human activity. In some waters, that background noise has doubled every decade for the past 60 years,^[1] making it harder to pick out the signals that really matter. But no matter how unfamiliar the waters are, the technical principles remain the same. Those trained to listen can always discern the echoes of real danger.

So it is with our financial system. We too are navigating waters where the currents are…