Washington, D.C. – Sam Riley, Senior Vice President and Head of International Regulatory Policy released the following statement today on the European Commission’s Communication on the competitiveness of the EU banking sector:
We welcome the Commission’s Communication published today, which reflects an openness in identifying key structural and regulatory challenges and recognition that fragmentation, regulatory complexity and an overly cautious supervisory culture are stifling competition for banking services in the EU. A more integrated, less duplicative EU framework benefits the banks and markets that finance the European economy, and we support the initiative.
The direction of travel on some issues — capital allocation for cross-border groups, supervisory culture and addressing excess regulatory requirements — reflects broad, longstanding industry-wide concerns, and timely development of legislative proposals will be necessary to help maintain momentum and provide clarity to market participants.
However, prosperity for EU businesses and households depends on deeper connections to global markets; so does scaling up investment in defense and other EU priorities, and it will be important that ongoing efforts to strengthen the EU framework are complemented by an outward-looking perspective. On these crucial linkages, the communication misses the mark. EU competitiveness cannot be assessed, or improved, in isolation from the EU’s relationship with the broader global financial sector. We look forward to engaging constructively with the Commission as it develops the 2027 banking package.
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