“In this very complicated situation we are going through due to the health crisis caused by the coronavirus, banks are maintaining credit to families and businesses to prevent the destruction of the productive fabric.” This was stated today by our Public Policy Director, Rocío Sánchez Barrios.
During her speech at the online seminar of the Financial Reality Observatory (Orfin) to analyze the impact of Covid-19 on financial stability in 2021, Sánchez Barrios stressed that “the primary objective of the banking sector is to guarantee financing to solvent individuals and companies,” but for this “it is necessary for all parties involved to streamline the financing mechanisms articulated by the Government.”
In this regard, she highlighted the strength of the sector in the current difficult scenario, since, “in recent years, banks have greatly strengthened their capacity to face asset deterioration following recent regulatory and supervisory reforms, which serves as a lifeline in this context.”
Regarding the regulatory framework for banking activity, she noted that “it is just as strict now as it was before Covid-19,” although she specified that the flexibility offered by said framework has been utilized to face such a complicated situation and increase the power of banks to support citizens.
In her view, “this health crisis could be a new opportunity to continue building the common European project and advance in key aspects for financial stability, sustainability, and future growth.” Likewise, it can serve as a trigger to take advantage of the accelerated digitalization of the economy and thus move towards a banking model more based on new technologies,” stated Sánchez Barrios.
The debate, moderated by the director of the Orfin chair, José Carlos Díez, included the participation of economists Carlos Martínez Mongay, former Deputy Director General in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission; Luis Teijeiro, Director of Regulation and Studies at CECA; and Santiago Carbó, Professor of Economics at CUNEF and Director of Financial Studies at FUNCAS.
