Bundesbank and ACPR leaders warn against deregulating EU banks for competitiveness

A joint op-ed from the incoming head of France's ACPR and a Bundesbank board member pushes back on the idea that loosening bank rules would make Europe more competitive. It is a short, pointed intervention into the EU's competitiveness debate, reframing prudential resilience as a precondition for financing climate, digital and defence priorities rather than an obstacle to it.

• Denis Beau and Michael Theurer argue in La Tribune on 10 September 2026 that deregulating EU banks to boost competitiveness would be a mistake.
• The authors frame the EU's competitive position as an issue of sovereignty, not only economic growth.
• They note the combined capitalisation of US bond and equity markets far surpasses the EU's, and that the US venture capital market is six times bigger.
• They call for mobilising European savings toward climate transition, digitalisation and defence, and for advancing the Savings and Investments Union.
• They argue resilience built by post-2008 reforms is instrumental to banks' capacity to finance Europe's strategic ambitions.

Executive summary

In a joint op-ed published in La Tribune on 10 September 2026, Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Banque de France and President-designate of the ACPR, and Michael Theurer, Member of the Executive Board of the Bundesbank, set out…

Machine-verified against the primary source, then read, edited and published by the Regulus editorial desk on 19 Oct 2026.