Q&A: the Bundesbank’s Andreas Dombret on small banks, big banks and shadow banks

Andreas Dombret may not like the term ‘shadow banking’, but whatever term is used instead, the Bundesbank executive board member tells Risk.net supervisors are a long way from being able to understand the shifting risks it creates

Andreas Dombret, Bundesbank

Small banks face too great a regulatory burden, big banks are retreating from some businesses, and the volume of shadow banking activity is growing – with regulators "miles away" from being able to monitor the new risks this might create.

That – in a nutshell – is the view of Andreas Dombret, head of the departments of banking and financial supervision and risk control at the Deutsche Bundesbank, on the impact of successive waves of post-crisis regulation.

It might sound a little gloomy, but