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| - The Bulgarian Central Bank (BNB) said Thursday that it had joined the European banking union, another step in the process of the country eventually joining the euro. Joining the banking union means that European Central Bank (ECB) will be able to directly supervise the country's five biggest banks, according to Radoslav Milenkov, the head of the BNB's supervision department. The smaller banks will be supervised by the BNB in coordination with the ECB. The banking union was set up in 2012 in the wake of the eurozone crisis and aims to guarantee the reliability of the sector in member states. "Bulgaria's participation in the banking union will reduce to a minimum the danger of bankruptcies and other potential risks for the Bulgarian banking system in the case that a bank goes insolvent," said BNB Deputy Governor Kalin Hristov in a recent interview with financial news site money.bg. The BNB's supervisory role came under scrutiny in 2015 after the collapse of the Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), the country's fourth largest, which stemmed from a conflict between two businessmen. However, the bank's collapse did not destabilise the wider banking sector, which since 1997 has been subject to strict solvency criteria. Joining the banking union was a condition of Bulgaria's entry to the ERM II exchange rate mechanism, the so-called "waiting room" to the single currency. Bulgaria joined the ERM II on July 10, along with Croatia. Bulgaria has already fulfilled one of the other criteria for joining the euro, with its currency the lev being pegged to the euro since the single currency's inception. Bulgaria and Croatia will be assessed on other criteria too, such as price and exchange rate stability, as well as whether they have completed internal reforms. vs/anb/jsk/rl
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