Europe has the capital. Will lawmakers deliver?
Europe has capital. Europe has innovative companies. Europe has a market of 450 million people. The challenge is connecting these strengths
This was one of my key takeaways from this year's State of the Union address by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It’s true, Europe possesses these strengths, although I’d add our talented, motivated and highly skilled Europeans – our workforce.
In my view the challenge for law makers is to let these strengths connect themselves without undue (new) regulatory burdens. Rather: the lawmakers must remove regulatory burdens!
Once these strengths start coming together, they need financing to take off. Here’s our simple, straight forward core idea: “Unlocking banks’ resilience for Europe’s growth.”
Why? European banks are resilient and well capitalized. We just must make the existing framework work better: reduce national fragmentation, regulatory duplication, requirements beyond international standards and rules that tie up capital, liquidity and management capacity that could instead support businesses, investment and growth.
President von der Leyen heard the call, when she said Europe needs a banking system "built for growth, not just stability". Will the lawmakers deliver?