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Structural bank reform is essential for Banking Union to succeed

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Finance Watch

Alison Burns

Press Officer

(EN, FR)

29 October 2012, Brussels

Finance Watch, the public interest advocacy group, on Friday warned that without the effective and timely structural reform of banks, the EU’s other bank reforms may not work and could even make things worse.

Thierry Philipponnat, Secretary General of Finance Watch, told a conference in Zurich at the “Finethikon” event that EU’s planned suite of bank reforms, including plans for a single supervisory authority and stronger deposit guarantee system (Banking Union), and arrangements for Bank Recovery and Resolution (BRR), must be implemented at the same time as effective structural reform of the banking sector (Liikanen).

“These three reforms need to be implemented in parallel. The sole implementation of a banking union without a simultaneous reform of banking structure would not only risk missing the stated objective of breaking the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns but could increase the negative consequences of the moral hazard situation currently prevailing in the banking sector”, he said.

To read the full presentation, click here.

Other links:

Further information on Banking Union

Further information on the High-level Expert Group on possible reforms to the structure of the EU banking sector (Liikanen)

Finance Watch’s evidence to the Liikanen Group (1 June 2012)

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