The European Banking Federation has published an independent study by Oliver Wyman on the competitiveness of European banks, concluding that Europe now faces about EUR 1.4 trillion in additional annual investment needs, well above the EUR 800 billion estimated in the 2024 Draghi report. The study says the problem is not only the volume of funding required but also the type of financing needed, with future demand concentrated in long-duration, capital-intensive and higher-risk assets that the current financing continuum is not equipped to support. According to the report, banks remain central to closing that gap, but successive layers of regulation, rising supervisory burden and persistent market fragmentation have reduced their capacity and incentives to fund investment critical to growth, while alternative financing channels remain underdeveloped and fragmented. It adds that banks have adapted and returned to profitability, but have shifted toward less capital-intensive lending, and calls for measures to expand banks' financing capacity, build a stronger savings and investment continuum, and support greater scale and innovation.
European Banking Federation2026-06-09
European Banking Federation publishes study warning EUR 1.4 trillion annual investment needs are outpacing banks' capacity to finance growth
The European Banking Federation published an independent Oliver Wyman study finding that Europe faces about EUR 1.4 trillion in additional annual investment needs, far above the EUR 800 billion in the 2024 Draghi report, with demand concentrated in long-duration, capital-intensive, higher-risk assets that current financing structures do not support. The report concludes that regulatory layering, supervisory burden and market fragmentation have constrained banks’ capacity and incentives to fund growth-critical investment, and calls for measures to expand banks’ financing capacity, strengthen the savings-investment continuum, and support greater scale and innovation.