In the face of fierce international competition, according to Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing, Europe needs larger and more competitive banks.
“We must finally use Europe's economies of scale,” warned Sewing on Wednesday at the start of the online “Handelsblatt” banking conference.
“It was and remains the right thing to do to regulate big banks with particular care.
At the same time, however, in Europe we have done a lot to prevent banks from growing up at all.
But that is a questionable course - the importance of size in the financial world is increasing exponentially, ”said the manager, who has also been President of the Association of German Banks (BdB) since July 1st.
Location advantages for the USA
The efficient banking and capital market is one of the great locational advantages of the USA, said Sewing.
“In order to catch up again, Europe also needs a stronger banking and capital market.
Otherwise we will not be able to assert ourselves in a polarized world economy between the USA and China. "
Sewing reiterated his call for progress in the unification of capital markets in Europe. The banking and capital markets union is a necessary condition for a strong financial sector in Europe: “We can no longer afford an evolutionary path, we now need a big leap. This will also accelerate the overdue consolidation across national borders. "
The core of the Capital Markets Union is to remove bureaucratic hurdles between the individual EU states in order to give companies more opportunities to raise money. Consumers should also have more options for cross-border investments. In Europe - in contrast to the USA - loans and financing are mainly granted by banks. The EU Commission's plans for a capital markets union have been on the table since September 2015, but implementation has stalled.