Most institutional changes in macroeconomic and financial policies, if not all, are attributable to lessons learned during crises. The paradigm of inflation targeting in central banking can be attributed to the periods of high inflation and unemployment that prevailed in some countries until the 1980s. The creation of the euro was a response to the currency crises that jeopardised the development of Europe's single market. More recently, the Great Financial Crisis led to a worldwide regulatory overhaul to strengthen the resilience of the financial sector, and in Europe to the establishment of a banking union, including a single supervisory mechanism and a single resolution mechanism. Drawing on his experiences as a professor of economics, private banker and finally central banker, Peter Praet will review these developments and draw some tentative lessons for the future.