The president of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), Alejandra Kindelán, today called on the authorities to take ambitious measures to boost growth within the framework of the European Union’s competitiveness agenda.
During a meeting organized by the Spanish Institute of Banking and Finance (IEBF), Kindelán warned of two major risks to this agenda: that the reforms might lose their ambition and be limited to technical adjustments with little impact, or that they might create new disparities among countries and banking models.
The president of the AEB noted that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently acknowledged in the European Parliament the leading role played by banks in financing major European priorities, given that 70% of the funding for the European economy currently comes from banks.
Kindelán emphasized the need to ensure that Europe has sufficient funding to address challenges such as defense, innovation, and digitalization, to compete with other major economies, and to strengthen its strategic autonomy. Europe will need approximately 1.4 trillion euros in additional investment to address its key priorities.
For this reason, he has advocated for regulatory simplification that maintains prudential objectives but within a clearer, more consistent, and more predictable framework. Regulatory complexity, he warned, consumes resources, delays decisions, and affects the economy’s ability to raise capital.
In this context, he highlighted the contribution of the Spanish banking sector to European growth and the need for a balanced agenda that combines financial stability and competitiveness so that the sector can continue to play the role that Europe needs.
