Alejandra Kindelán, President of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), stated today in Brussels that Europe is at a critical juncture, with an urgent need to strengthen its strategic autonomy and respond swiftly and in unity to today’s challenges, especially in light of the latest developments in the Middle East.
“In the current climate of geopolitical uncertainty, it is essential for Europe to accelerate its competitiveness agenda, the foundation of the strategic autonomy that will enable us to finance energy, innovation and defence needs,” she said at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) conference.
Kindelán stressed that the debate on the competitiveness of the European banking sector cannot be separated from this context, and that the objective must be to have a banking system capable of financing the continent’s strategic needs, such as energy, digitalisation and security.
“Banks are the main source of financing in Europe, and we must expand their capacity to meet these challenges,” she said. European banks are in a position of strength, but to unlock their full potential it is necessary to make progress on regulatory and supervisory simplification, as well as integration.
As regards simplification, she welcomed the work of the authorities on the simplification agenda, but warned that the starting point is complex, with multiple supervisors and very extensive regulation that undermines predictability, increases financing costs and complicates banks’ valuation in the markets.
In this regard, she explained that, in the absence of an overarching supervisory and regulatory vision, the capital requirements faced by banks continue to rise, generating increasing compliance costs and hampering bank lending to the detriment of the real economy at a time of major financing needs.
With regard to integration, Kindelán underscored the importance of the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS), so that all savers have the same guarantees regardless of which country they live in, to break the sovereign-bank nexus and strengthen the euro.
