Danmarks Nationalbank regularly provides its perspectives on economic and financial matters at various events and meetings. Speeches and presentations provide insight into Danmarks Nationalbank’s contribution to the event or meeting in question.

Danish economy

Governor Christian Kettel Thomsen: Stability through simplicity

Financial regulation has reached a point where the marginal value is often far exceeded by the added burden. This needs to be changed through simplification of regulation, but meaningful simplification is only possible if core regulations – capital requirement, liquidity requirement and resolution framework - remain materially prudent and ambitious. We need to pace, to coordinate and above all to compromise to create simpler regulation. We must act together if we are to have simpler regulation ensuring stability. These were the key messages delivered by Governor Kettel Thomsen in his speech at Eurofi Financial Forum in Copenhagen on 18 September 2025.


Since the Great Financial Crisis, complexity and volume of financial regulation have grown tremendously to the benefit of financial stability. But the accumulated burden of financial regulation is negatively affecting EU competitiveness.

“Seen in isolation most rules are at the time of introduction justified and sensible. But taken together the burdens of some requirements and rules do not measure up to the intended benefits. […] The existing and future regulations need to be simplified, and new rules must add real value to financial stability.” – Governor Christian Kettel Thomsen.

Simplification is widely discussed across the EU and was a prominent topic at both the Eurofi event and the informal ECOFIN in Copenhagen. Governor Kettel Thomsen highlighted that simplification should not be deregulation and the core pillars of financial regulation - capital requirements, liquidity requirements and resolution framework – should remain materially prudent and ambitious to enable meaningful simplification.

In his speech Governor Christian Kettel Thomsen pointed to three needs to create simpler regulation – “We need to pace, to coordinate and above all to compromise to create simpler regulation.”