The president of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), Alejandra Kindelán, today highlighted the strength of Spanish banks in the face of the complex international geopolitical scenario.
“The sector is in a position of strength and solidity to face possible shocks. Banks are a vector of stability and economic momentum, as well as acting as a cushion capable of absorbing unforeseen events,” he said at a press conference.
Kindelán, who this week was re-elected as president of the AEB for another four years, reiterated the solid situation of the sector, with non-performing loans below 2.8%, a capital ratio above 13% and profitability of around 15%.
“This shows that Spanish banks are very competitive and efficient, with the capacity to help our families and companies to also be more competitive,” he stressed.
Kindelán insisted that, in the current context of uncertainty, “the important thing is to have resilience and boost growth in Europe; and banking is prepared for this”. At this point, the president of the AEB mentioned the association’s response to the consultation on the competitiveness of the EU banking sector, which she summarized in 5 measures on two fundamental pillars: regulatory and supervisory simplification and market integration.
Broaden the focus of regulators and supervisors with a secondary objective of growth and competitiveness and simplification of supervisory processes.
2. Need for a comprehensive vision (coordination mechanism of authorities) and greater predictability and stability of capital requirements.
Simplification of the capital framework: reduction of the number of buffers and avoidance of overlaps.
4. Measures to improve regulation, focusing on more regulations rather than directives, less technical regulatory developments and measurement of impacts before and after the regulation is applied.
5. Integration of the single market, through two levers: completing the Banking Union with a single European Deposit Guarantee Fund (EDIS) and advancing in the Savings and Investment Union (SIU).
