The future of the next European legislature and the need to ensure the European strategic autonomy; the economic, financial and political outlook in Italy and Germany; how to strengthen the Capital Markets Union (CMU); current and future developments in sustainable finance in both countries and in Europe; the role of the banking and insurance industries as institutional investors; the state of the art of the reform of the European retail investment strategy (as part of the Mifid II and Insurance Distribution Directive revision); the challenges and prospects of digitization and innovation in the financial sector, including a digital euro. These are the main topics discussed today in Rome during the 11th round of the Italian-German Dialogue on financial services between FeBAF, the Italian Federation of Banks, Insurance and Finance, DK (the German Banking Committee which brings together the 5 banking associations in Germany) and GDV (the German Association of Insurers). The two delegations were led respectively by Pier Carlo Padoan (Chairman of UniCredit and Member of the Board of Directors of FeBAF) and for the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft by Karolin Schriever (Member of the Board of Directors of the Association of German Savings Banks-DSGV).
Over 30 representatives of the Italian and German financial industry participated in the meeting, including, for Italy, representatives of ABI and ANIA. The meeting opened with an analysis of the economic and financial situation in Europe and within the two countries in the global context. Great expectation was expressed for the documents that will be produced by Presidents Draghi and Letta in view of the definition of the EU's economic and financial agenda to be implemented during the next mandate of the European Commission. Full confidence in the current state of the financial sector and its prospects was confirmed, despite a very delicate and challenging economic situation which is the result of the combined effects of global geopolitical variables, but also of a regulatory framework which sometimes hinders long-term investments, lacks proportionality and limits the action of European financial intermediaries, compared to their non-EU competitors.
According to the head of the Italian delegation, Pier Carlo Padoan, “today's meeting provided interesting insights and underlined the importance of continuing this fruitful dialogue to pave the way for the promotion of an adequate framework to promote Europe economic and social development. A development that also requires progress on the Banking, Capital and Insurance Markets Integration in the European Union, which must be seen as chapters of the same book, to overcome the current fragmentation. This would allow the EU financial sector to grow, increase competitiveness and the emergence of strong European players, as well as an efficient allocation of available capital in the markets”.
The head of the German delegation, Karolin Schriever, underlined that " We find ourselves in an age of conflict, political and economic uncertainties. We must therefore tackle the major challenges now, and we must do so together through cooperation at the European level. Europe, Italy and Germany need strong and efficient credit and insurance institutions to finance the multiple transitions and protect corporate and private risks that are taking place. Therefore, the regulatory frameworks for banks, insurers and capital markets need to be reviewed at the light of strengthening the competitiveness of institutions and of better reflecting the European banking, capital and insurance markets’ diversity.".
The two communities urged the European authorities to be cautious about excessively invasive European regulations, and to counter the phenomenon of national "gold plating" (the regulatory burden that member states often apply when adopting European directives). In particular, the new rules on sustainable and digital transition should support the competitiveness of the European economy and its strategic sovereignty, preserving diversity within the financial sector. A reform of the supervisory and regulatory securitisation framework could also help to better finance the transition.
The Dialogue facilitated the understanding of the priorities of the two financial communities on each of the topics covered, strengthening the foundations on which to build common positions at European level, starting from the next EU legislature. The next meeting of the Dialogue, the twelfth, will be held in Berlin in the autumn.
