Peter Praet, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, says an important lesson to learn from the financial crisis is the speed with which persistent imbalances in European Monetary Union can result in systemic risks.

Speaking in Berlin today, Praet said this danger was not fully understood prior to the crisis. "There are greater spillover effects on account of increasing interconnectedness," he said. "The financial contagion of the sovereign debt crisis is a case in point."