23 June 2020

Speaking at the 10th Frankfurt Finance Summit, Jean Pierre Mustier highlighted the need for a pan-European banking sector and giving investors visibility on dividend payments

2:00 min

On Monday, CEO Jean Pierre Mustier participated in a panel discussion at the 10th Frankfurt Finance Summit, which was held as a hybrid conference this year – both in-person and digital.  The Summit addresses CEOs, CFOs, CROs, central bank representatives, supervisors and regulators from more than 20 countries and invites them to discuss the topics that currently move the finance industry.

Speaking during the panel discussion with the topic “Completing the Banking and Capital Market Union under new Circumstances”, Jean Pierre Mustier stressed the need for both a banking and capital market union. “If we don’t have one European banking sector we cannot attract capital, so we need the banking union to be completed”, said Jean Pierre Mustier.

He also addressed that European banks need to be able to attract capital and investors, in return, need clarity on banks’ future dividend payments. “If Covid can bring us something, it’s to make sure that the regulator thinks also of how to position banks to attract more capital”, Jean Pierre Mustier said. He added that it was important to make sure the banking industry remained a “truly investible sector”. “We need to have this shift towards the issue of how to make banks profitable so that they can finance the European economy”, he added.

Jean Pierre Mustier also highlighted the necessity to give investors visibility: “We need to give more visibility to investors, even in the current environment on what the regulatory evolution will be. It is important to make sure that international investors have visibility on how European banks will be able to pay dividends in the future, under which framework, under which constraints.”

Jean Pierre Mustier also highlighted the importance of SMEs for the European economy. “The future growth in Europe will be dependent on the ability of SMEs to grow”, he said. “What we need to do is to make sure that we find ways to raise capital for SMEs as SMEs don’t have access to the listed market.”