Session 2 | European Financial Integration 2026

Source: European Central Bank (video statements)

Session 2

How can a more integrated banking sector enhance the competitiveness of the EU economy?

Chair: Frank Elderson, member of the Executive Board and Vice-Chair of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, ECB

Panellists:
• Jonás Fernández Álvarez, Member of the European Parliament (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) and member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
• María Abascal, Director General of the Spanish Banking Association and Chair of EBF Executive Committee
• Britta Schmidt, Senior EU Banks Analyst, Autonomous Research
• Ignazio Angeloni, Senior Policy Fellow, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE (Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe), Goethe University Frankfurt

The conference took place on 7 May 2026.

See the conference programme here:
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/conferences/html/260507-european-financial-integration.en.html

Watch all sessions from the conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Y49BF8mTQ&list=PLnVAEZuF9FZlLRLPr0lrYXqh4DcZfWRBT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVY64bkffe8