Future of Banking: Europe’s strategic banking challenges

Europe’s banking sector is facing renewed questions over its structure, scale and ability to compete globally. As policy-makers seek to deepen banking and capital markets integration, longstanding barriers to cross-border activity, fragmented regulatory frameworks and differences in national approaches continue to constrain consolidation, investment and the development of more competitive European financial institutions.

The roundtable examines the future of banking union, the potential resurgence of universal banking and the steps needed to strengthen Europe’s financial competitiveness. The discussion considers how greater cross-border harmonisation within and beyond Europe could support deeper and more interconnected capital markets, the development of the Savings and Investments Union and greater banking scale, while addressing regulatory fragmentation, financial stability and the evolving relationship between governments, regulators and the financial sector.

The Future of Banking series, in collaboration with Rokos Capital Management, brings together senior representatives from banking, regulation, policy and investment, including central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, banks, ratings agencies and technology providers, to examine the future architecture of commercial banks in an age of technological change, interconnected capital markets and increased competition between regulatory systems.

The first roundtable, ‘Europe’s strategic banking challenges’, takes place in London on 1 October. The second, ‘Financial market innovation, AI and the changing shape of banking’, takes place in New York on 17 November.

These discussions are interactive, with all delegates invited to contribute, and are held under the Chatham House Rule in an off-the-record format. After each event, OMFIF will produce a publication summarising the conclusions reached.