FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank plans to be more aggressive this year in escalating problems with lenders that fail to comply with its expectations and may penalize banks more often, ECB bank supervisor Claudia Buch said on Thursday.

“This year, we will intensify the use of escalation mechanisms to ensure that supervisory findings are addressed and deficiencies are remedied by banks,” Buch told a European Parliament committee hearing in Brussels.

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“We also envisage the use of periodic penalty payments should supervised entities fail to comply with the requirements,” Buch added.