Speakers
Objectives
The launch of the banking union project was a response to the EU Sovereign crisis (2011-2012). The Covid Crisis and the banking turmoil earlier this year has shown that the creation of a Single Supervisory Mechanism (2014) has helped promote a more resilient European banking sector. But 10 years after its creation, the project has not been completed and two of its main objectives – namely to break the feedback loop between banks and sovereigns and to create a genuinely integrated single market for banks – have not been achieved.
Despite the creation of the SSM and the SRM, the banking sector in Europe remains too fragmented and over-banked, and market concentration has only progressed at domestic level. Moreover, the distinction between home and host authorities and the “national bias” still exists for banks operating across borders in the “Banking Union” under the remit of the Single Supervisory Mechanism. The reality is that national regulators still fear that capital and liquidity will be trapped in individual Member States if a pan-European banking group fails.
The session will first assess the measures that can be taken to restore the willingness of Member States to cooperate to make progress on the Banking Union and to mobilize the European banking sector in this direction. Then, the speakers will be invited to express their views on policy priorities to improve the competitiveness of EU banks and whether digitalization can help the banking union break the deadlock it has been in for years.
Points of discussion
- What measures can be taken to restore the willingness of Member States to cooperate to make progress on the Banking Union and to mobilize the European banking sector in this direction?
- Can digitalization and innovation be a game changer for the future of the Banking Union? What measures have been taken in the context of Banking Union to improve the competitiveness of European banks?