Alejandra Kindelán, President of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), advocates for establishing tax incentives to drive the Capital Markets Union (CMU), to better channel savings towards productive investment and thus boost Europe’s growth and competitiveness.
Speaking today at the ‘VI Financial Observatory of El Español and Invertia’, Kindelán emphasized that only with an adequate fiscal framework can the capital market complement bank financing, allowing both systems to coexist and mutually reinforce each other for the benefit of families and businesses.
SMEs in Spain do not suffer from a shortage of financing, as the Spanish banking system has proven to be robust and committed to the business fabric. In fact, new financing for SMEs reached 180 billion euros in 2025, marking a historic high since 2011.
However, Kindelán insisted that the development of the CMU is fundamental for building a diversified and robust financial ecosystem, capable of meeting the needs of any type of project, from the most innovative to those strategic for Europe’s growth and transformation.
In this regard, she also advocated for completing the Banking Union with the creation of the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS), a key component to reinforce European strategic autonomy in the current context of geopolitical uncertainty and in the face of the new international order.
The implementation of EDIS would guarantee uniform protection for depositors, regardless of the bank’s location, and would strengthen confidence in the European financial system, as it would break the link between banking risk and sovereign risk.
This is the way to reinforce our strategic autonomy and gain influence in key areas such as security, defense, energy, and the green and digital transitions, she concluded. The European financial sector – she emphasized – is an essential ally for the major challenges facing Europe, as 75% of the European economy’s financing is bank-based.
