European Retail Banking Discusses Its Challenges: Regulation, Growth, and Innovation
The European Savings and Retail Banking Association (ESBG), of which CECA is a member, has organized today in Brussels the Retail Banking Conference, bringing together more than 100 professionals from the financial sector.
Madrid / Brussels, June 27, 2017. – More than 100 banking professionals, regulators, and financial analysts gathered today at the Retail Banking Conference held in Brussels with the goal of analyzing the current situation of the sector and identifying the challenges facing European retail entities.
Throughout the sessions, three challenges were especially highlighted: regulation, growth, and innovation.
The event was organized by the European Savings and Retail Banking Association (ESBG), one of the most relevant associations in the European banking sector, chaired by Isidro Fainé. It groups together nearly 1,000 banking entities from over 21 countries, which prioritize financial services to families and SMEs. The credit institutions associated with ESBG provide services to more than 178 million customers in Europe.
Representatives from the ECB, the European Commission, and the European Parliament attended the event. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Jyrki Katainen, opened the sessions, which also featured participation from the Chairman of CaixaBank, Jordi Gual, who emphasized: “We live in times when regulation, sustainable finance, automation, and innovation are transforming the banking business. It is up to us to ensure that these changes lead us to a good destination.”
Chris de Noose, General Director of ESBG, stated: “In the current context, attention is primarily focused on the major challenges facing economies: employment, growth, and social cohesion. This should lead regulators and more local retail banking to be able to achieve results in all these areas.”
Coinciding with this event, the top representatives of the European Savings Banks and Retail Banks also met today in Brussels for their Presidents’ Committee, the Board of Directors, and the annual meeting of the General Assembly of ESBG. Isidro Fainé, president of CECA, is also the president of the ESBG Board of Directors.
Among other matters, they reviewed the most impactful regulatory topics such as Basel IV and the risk reduction package, worked on defining a common position following the publication of the European Commission’s action plan on consumer financial services and the consultation on fintechs, and discussed ESBG’s final contribution to the public consultation also launched by the European Commission regarding the activities of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA, and EIOPA), a consultation that concluded in May of this year.
