Yesterday, our CEO Wim Mijs, Deputy CEO Sébastien de Brouwer, and Executive Committee Chair Maria Abascal met with Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis for a high-level discussion on ensuring a competitive, sound, and resilient European banking sector that aims to fully play its role as a strategic sector in accelerating the building resilience and restoring European competitiveness.
The EBF highlighted the following messages:
1. Global level playing field: EBF called for postponing the implementation of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) by granting an opt-in, allowing banks to choose whether to implement it in January 2026 or postpone it to January 2027. More broadly, the regulatory and supervisory framework should be evaluated based on competitiveness. Levels 2 and 3 should align with the level 1 objective to avoid unnecessarily restricting banks’ lending capacity and hindering economic growth. Any gold-plating measures should be removed. The Less is More Report was shared with the Commissioner.
2. Simplification: A comprehensive review of the regulatory framework is needed to eliminate unnecessary burdens and ensure predictability. The EBF welcomed the omnibus package and stressed that well-tailored, proportional requirements in the Taxonomy regulation, CSRD, and CSDDD are vital for boosting efficiency, supporting the green transformation, and enhancing competitiveness. It is however important to make sure that key data needed by the banking industry from companies of different sizes remain publicly available. It is also key to align banks' reporting requirements with corporate requirements. Simplification should also extend beyond sustainability to include banking regulation and supervision, digital finance (including the Financial Data Access regulation), and the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS).
3. Digital euro: A carefully designed digital euro, if decided, should support existing payment solutions while protecting financial stability and lending capacity. A wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) could provide immediate benefits by enhancing transaction safety and efficiency.
4. Fighting digital fraud: Europe must implement cross-sector measures across all digital environments - including public, telecoms, and social media- to effectively combat digital fraud, which is a significant security issue. Relying solely on systematic reimbursement obligations for payment service providers (PSPs) will not address the root causes of the problem.
We thank Commissioner Dombrovskis for his engagement and look forward to continued collaboration to shape a resilient and dynamic banking sector that supports European households and businesses.
