EU urges support for cross-border bank mergers to deepen single market

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EU support for bank mergers

Highlights

European Commission antitrust chief Teresa Ribera urges EU countries to support cross-border bank mergers to strengthen the single market and regional competitiveness.
Germany rejects Italian bank UniCredit's offer for shares in Commerzbank, citing low price and concerns over UniCredit's aggressive approach, highlighting national resistance.
The EU’s plan for a full banking union remains stalled due to the absence of a joint deposit guarantee system, hindering cross-border banking integration.

Ribera calls for banking integration

As reported by Reuters, European Commission antitrust chief Teresa Ribera says EU countries should support cross-border bank mergers to help complete the single market and strengthen the region's competitiveness.

Speaking at a conference on Wednesday, Ribera says cross-border mergers among large European banks would move the bloc closer to that goal and are urgently needed. She says member states should welcome such deals for the broader economic benefit.

Her remarks align with wider calls from EU policymakers for more cross-border banking deals as Europe faces multi-trillion-euro investment needs tied to the green and digital transition.

National resistance clouds merger push

The debate sharpens a day after Germany officially rejects Italian bank UniCredit's offer for shares in German rival Commerzbank. Berlin cites a low price and concerns about what it describes as the Italian bank's aggressive approach.

A broader plan for a full banking union remains stalled, with bankers and supervisors long pointing to the lack of a joint guarantee system for euro zone depositors as a key obstacle. Ribera criticises countries that call for pan-European champions while resisting measures needed to make such ambitions possible.

She says Europe cannot argue for globally competitive companies while refusing to assess whether its policy frameworks reflect global competition, technological change and investment requirements.

Our earlier coverage of the UK leverage ratio debate explained how regulators are reassessing post-crisis capital safeguards and weighing whether easing them could boost banks’ flexibility under economic pressure. We noted that any reduction in the leverage ratio could reshape lending capacity and risk-taking, raising questions about the trade-off between competitiveness and financial resilience—an issue that also underpins today’s push for deeper cross-border banking integration in Europe.

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