EU Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque stated on September 14 that cross-border banking mergers in the EU should have happened much earlier. She highlighted the scale problem of European banks, which remain significantly smaller than their American and Chinese counterparts due to fragmented markets across 27 national regulatory frameworks. Cross-border bank M&A reached 17 billion euros in 2025, the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, but only 19 transactions were completed. Albuquerque also rejected banking sector demands to split up a broad regulatory reform package, arguing it must be addressed as a whole. The European Commission is expected to unveil a comprehensive banking competitiveness package in early 2027.
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