Working for growth

The reform of the European governance, and of the European banking sector, are likely to dominate the political and economic debate in 2013, just as they have been in the past couple of years. Never, in 60 years of European integration, those two aspects have been so closely interlinked and discussed within the same framework. The facts are there: politicians and regulators all around Europe, and worldwide, are focused on defining and implementing reforms aiming at making the banking system safer and stronger; at the same time, banks and financial institutions in general are relying more and more on a reformed governance of the European Union and the Eurozone as a way to avoid the unhealthy coupling of sovereign and banking risks.

At the core of the debate is the role of banks in the European economy. Strong and safe banks are needed to continue to foster growth, finance companies and households, support innovation and start-ups.

For banks around Europe, it is often difficult to increase actual lending volumes to the real economy. There are three root causes for the slowdown of lending: more stringent capital and liquidity ratios for banks imposed by evolution of regulation; a certai...