The European Banking Federation set out board-level priorities centred on capital, resilience and integration, arguing that Europe will struggle to close its estimated EUR 1.4 trillion annual investment gap unless the regulatory and supervisory framework is simplified to support lending and growth. Drawing on preliminary findings from an Oliver Wyman study on the competitiveness of European banks, the Board called for a better balance between capital, resilience and growth and a move away from excessive risk aversion toward an appropriate level of risk appetite. The Board said European banks are already well capitalized and resilient, but overlapping European capital buffers, supervisory add-ons and national requirements have made capital planning increasingly difficult. For a representative cross-section of European banks, supervisory capital add-ons equalled 91% of retained earnings in 2022-2024, leaving 9% of internally generated capital available for further lending. It therefore urged fundamental and accelerated simplification of the European regulatory and supervisory framework. On payments and technology, the Board backed a carefully sequenced, phased implementation of the digital euro and said the draft legislation should reuse established European private payment standards, including the SEPA instant payments scheme, and keep a holding limit to protect deposits and banks' lending capacity. It also called for broader cooperation across banks, policymakers, supervisors, telecoms operators and online platforms to address frontier artificial intelligence risks and digital fraud, and said predictable rules are needed as banks make long-term technology investments. The Oliver Wyman study is expected in June 2026.
European Banking Federation2026-05-22
European Banking Federation urges simpler EU bank rules to help close EUR 1.4 trillion annual investment gap
The European Banking Federation Board set priorities on capital, resilience and integration, warning Europe will struggle to close a EUR 1.4 trillion annual investment gap without a simplified regulatory and supervisory framework that better supports lending and growth. Citing preliminary Oliver Wyman findings, it said overlapping capital buffers and supervisory add-ons constrain banks’ lending capacity and called for fundamental simplification, while backing a phased digital euro that reuses existing payment standards, maintains holding limits and is accompanied by predictable rules on technology, AI risks and digital fraud.