Antonio Romero, new General Director of CECA: “The Spanish banking sector faces current geopolitical risks in a moment of strength”

Antonio Romero participated in the XLII APIE Seminar: Forty years of Spain in the EU. Evolution of the Spanish economy. From autarky to market economy, organized by the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP)

The General Director of CECA has called for regulatory and supervisory simplification to strengthen the competitiveness of the Spanish and European banking sector to enhance its role as a promoter of economic growth

Antonio Romero, the new General Director of CECA, participated in the XLII APIE Seminar, Forty years of Spain in the EU. Evolution of the Spanish economy. From autarky to market economy, organized by UIMP, during which he emphasized the current strength of the Spanish banking sector, evident in high levels of profitability and efficiency. This good performance has allowed the CECA sector to increase its Social Work investment, which reached 906 million euros in 2024, thus remaining the largest private social investor in Spain.

This situation of strength will enable the Spanish banking sector to tackle the challenges it currently faces with guarantees. The first of these is the uncertainty deriving from new geopolitical risks. Romero noted that these risks present a different nature than the traditional ones faced by the sector and, for this reason, the approach to addressing them by supervisors should not be through an increase in capital. “We must abandon the current capital centrism and replace it with governance measures,” Romero explained.

Regulatory simplification

The General Director of CECA defended the need to reduce the excessive regulatory and supervisory burden that the sector bears: “The proliferation of regulatory developments in the financial industry, accompanied by an intensification of supervisory activity, has resulted in an increasingly complex and costly compliance model for credit institutions.” In the last five years, regulatory activity has averaged 1.3 rules per business day directed at the financial sector.

Romero emphasized that regulatory simplification must be accompanied by a review of legislative production processes, as they currently favor complexity. “Otherwise, in a few years, we will have to repeat this simplification exercise, regardless of the success of the current process,” stated the General Director.

Digital euro

The digital euro was another key topic addressed. In this context, he highlighted the constructive role of the industry in creating the theoretical model for this new digital currency through its participation in the various working groups established by the ECB and its contributions to designing the regulatory framework. However, he pointed out certain aspects that must be considered, such as implementation costs and the existence of private projects that will provide pan-European solutions in the area of payment services.