M&A

Top bank regulator: ‘Lack of confidence is preventing M&A’

ECB's Danièle Nouy says uncertainty on several fronts is holding banks back from M&A that could ease profitability pressures

Danièle Nouy
Danièle Nouy Photo: Getty Images

A lack of confidence is preventing banks from pursuing consolidation that would make them more efficient, profitable and inch closer to a pan-European banking sector, according to one of the eurozone's most senior industry supervisors.

In recent months, lawyers and bankers have predicted a wave of M&A in the sector as smaller and weaker institutions in an "overbanked" Europe need to restructure or consolidate due to concerns about capital buffers and profitability.

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