FINANCING GROWTH

GROWTH

“The recovery plan turns the immense challenge we face into an opportunity, not only by supporting the recovery but also by investing in our future: the European Green Deal and digitalization will boost jobs and growth, the resilience of our societies and the health of our environment.”

Ursula Von der LeyenEuropean Commission President

“The capital markets union is a major element of our post-coronavirus recovery strategy. Savers and investors will play a vital role in getting the economy moving again and they need to have the confidence to invest through capital markets. And companies need to be able to access diversified sources of market-based financing anywhere in the EU.”

Valdis Dombrovskis Executive Vice-President of the Commission and in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union

“Deep capital markets offering diversified sources of funding are essential for the long-term financing of the recovery. Efficient capital markets encourage greater long-term investments in the economy, allow for more rapid recapitalisation of companies, help banks increase their capacity to finance the economy and can support the transformation to more sustainable economic growth.”

Verena RossExecutive Director ESMA

The European financial system exists for a reason: to meet the needs of European companies, investors and savers and citizens. Wherever they are, whatever their size and type, companies and investors and savers must have access to the financing they need.

In the midst of the Covid 19 crisis and its economic and social consequences, banks and financial markets have a major role to play to support the economic and financial recovery.

Financial Market key function is to intermediate funds from savers and investors towards corporates of all sizes to support their functioning and their transition towards a greener and more digital economy. Banking Finance and financial markets are complementary to achieve the EU’s ambitions of economic growth, sustainability and cohesion. But also, and to reinforce its competitive edge in a global environment. Europe needs a Banking and Capital Markets Union which works at different levels of access – local, regional and pan-European – in a seamless and fully integrated way.

EBF Steering Committee for Financing Growth

Understanding the challenges that finance will face in achieving this future, the EBF has established the Steering Committee for Financing Growth acting with a team looking deliberately and in-depth to all the core issues of importance for European banks with a clear mandate to:

Ensure that European bank-financing continues to meet the needs of European companies to grow and generate jobs;
Increase market-based financing, as a complement to bank finance, to serve economic growth while also providing greater opportunities for banks engaged in capital markets/investment banking business;
Increase and diversify opportunities for individuals as users of financial services to invest, whether through banks or markets;
Enhance solutions that improve the sustainability of bank- and market-based financing.

Our work in this area is divided into five topics: Primary markets, Post-trading and Secondary markets, as well as Business Finance and Sustainable Finance.

Capital Market Union initiative

The Capital Market Union (CMU) is an initiative launched in 2015 by the European Commission which aims at creating a single market for capital. It aims at getting money – investments and savings – flowing across the EU so that it can benefit consumers, investors and companies, regardless of where they are located.

A capital markets union will:

provide businesses with a greater choice of funding at lower costs and provide SMEs, in particular, the finance they need;
support the economic recovery post-Covid-19 and create jobs;
offer new opportunities for savers and investors;
help Europe deliver its New Green Deal and Digital Agenda;
reinforce European competitiveness and financial sovereignty;
make the financial system more resilient and adaptable to the departure of the UK from the EU.

The 3 pillars of the EC CMU action plan

The EBF is a strong supporter of the CMU and the European Commission Action Plan and has set up the Markets4Europe campaign to propose game-changing solutions to develop truly integrated EU financial markets as part of the 2019-2024 agenda.