Cross-border bank mergers should be easier in Europe, says ECB’s Villeroy

CROSS-BORDER mergers between banks in Europe should be as easy as mergers within a single European country, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday (May 29).

Though the European Union has centralised bank regulation and supervision, banking markets remain drawn largely along national lines.

“It would be desirable, logic and normal that cross-border mergers within a monetary union would be as simple and accessible as a merger (within the same country),” Villeroy, who is also France’s central bank head, said.

He added that though current regulations allowed tie-ups, some host country regulators’ capital and liquidity surcharges for subsidiaries were sometimes excessive.

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this month that Europe’s banking sector needs more consolidation, even if that meant a major French bank being bought by a European rival. REUTERS