Christophe Nijdam, Secretary General of Finance Watch, said:
“Structural reform of the EU’s too-big-to-fail banks is essential if we are to restore trust in the banking sector and a level playing field among banks. Last night, ECON rejected the Hökmark report, which would have added layers of administrative burden without benefiting the public interest. This is a victory for those who genuinely want to end too-big-to-fail banking.”
The vote allows ECON to make a new start, possibly with a new rapporteur, who will need to find a broader compromise that will better reflect society’s interests. The rapporteur should therefore be more open to negotiations and more sceptical about the lobby arguments used by those seeking to avoid reform. These include, for example, the claim that too-big-to-fail banking produces stable long term investment, despite evidence to the contrary.
Katarzyna Hanula-Bobbitt, Senior Public Affairs Officer at Finance Watch, said:
“The restart is an opportunity to show that the EU can deliver Better Regulation. The next phase must not be rushed: it is better to be slow and correct than fast and wrong. The Parliament can now focus on finding simple and transparent rules for bank structure reform that will guarantee financial stability and deliver the diversity of market players, competition and fair pricing of risks that would truly benefit the EU’s economy.”
ENDS
Finance Watch materials on BSR:
- On the differences between TBTF and other universal banks: Separating universal banks from too-big-to-fail banks (March 2015)
- On debunking the arguments used by opponents of BSR: Separating fact and fiction (March 2015)
- On EU legislation tackling too-big-to-fail: TBTF in the EU, an assessment of EU 2009-2014 legislative work on banking (September 2014)
- On why the cost of credit and other banking services to the real economy would decrease following structural separation: Structural reform to refocus banks on the real economy (July 2014)
- On why BSR is needed for Banking Union to be credible: Europe’s banking trilemma (September 2013)
