Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to speak before you today in Dublin. Let me warmly thank Didier Cahen and David Wright for their invitation. New geopolitical realities, technological change and the need to finance strategic priorities are reshaping the environment in which European banks operate. Fortunately, 15 years of regulatory reforms have placed the European banking sector in a position of strength. EU banks are resilient, well-capitalised and liquid, with CET1 ratios and liquidity buffers at historically high levels.
Financial stability remains the foundation upon which competitiveness can be built. Yet the EU has consistently lost ground: for instance, third-country groups now provide 60% of corporate and investment banking services to European clients. This shows that strong fundamentals alone will not suffice to meet Europe’s strategic priorities: financing the climate transition, digitalisation and defence, and strengthening its economic and financial sovereignty in a fragmented world.
To complete the Banking Union and enable Europe to meet these challenges, I will focus on three priorities: first, overcoming the fragmentation that hinders the emergence of truly European banking groups; second, simplifying the prudential framework while preserving resilience and a global level playing field; and third, adapting our framework to the financing needs of the European economy.