In comparison, the size of the banking sector stagnated over this period.4 The most recent impetus to deepen the Capital Markets Union is in line with greater integration of the European financial markets5, which brings new challenges and opportunities where promoting sustainable finance gains prominence.
Attracting savings and financing through the capital markets, as an alternative to the traditional banking sector, will bring about an increase in shared private risk on a cross-border basis, simultaneously creating competitive pressures that will reveal an excess of installed capacity, generating movements towards consolidation as a response to the need for greater scale and efficiency.