The objective of the European capital markets union is not to abandon bank-based funding but to supplement it with capital markets-based funding. And in Europe above all places there is ample room to do so. The European stock market is only 60% the size of the US stock market when measured in relation to GDP.
Likewise, the European market for venture capital is 20% the size of the US market, and for securitisations the percentage is even lower. In the end, it comes down to the uncontested argument of diversification. Increasing the share of capital markets will improve and broaden access to funding particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises which form the backbone of many European economies.