Strengthening Europe and its financial sector - an agenda until 2029

Europe is more important than ever. An open, democratic Europe is not only essential for our cohesion and our social progress, but also vital for our economy. The private banks are demonstrating how competitive and attractive Europe can be, also in the future – for its citizens, the economy and a strong financial sector.

At-a-glance

What does the Association of German Banks expect from the European Commission and the European Parliament for the financial sector in the coming legislative period? We believe it is very important that the European Union becomes faster and more pragmatic. The Council and the Parliament have been unable to adopt a series of proposals by the current Commission before the election.

These include the review of crisis management and of deposit insurance, the Retail Investment Strategy and the legal framework for the digital euro. The European Parliament and the Council will take up this dossier and continue their legislative work after the election. We are keen to see that these projects are implemented in such a way that they strengthen our competitive power and do not lead to new bureaucracy.

However, at the same time, we need new ideas for a smart regulation agenda that promotes Europe’s strengths and competitiveness. An agenda that allows Europe to be more sovereign and resilient on the international stage. Now is the time to gather these ideas, to bundle them together and then implement them. Particularly for financial market regulation, continually adopting more, new requirements is not an option. Every regulatory initiative and each reform of existing financial market
regulation should be aimed at making financing and investment more competitive in the EU and helping the financial sector as a strategic industry in the EU to better serve its customer in the future.

The most important starting points for us are:

• Smart regulation
• Spreading financing over several pillars – deepening capital markets
• With sustainable finance, focus primarily on transition finance
• Provide consumer protection with a sense of proportion
• Define clear goals, clear roles for the digital euro and European payments