The prospects for cross-border consolidation within the EU banking industry remain slim without further progress on the bloc’s banking and capital markets unions, according to analysts, in spite of the interest in such deals sparked by BBVA’s attempted takeover of fellow Spanish lender Banco Sabadell.
President Emmanuel Macron last month called for more dealmaking within the industry as part of the EU’s efforts to create a capital markets union, saying in an interview with Bloomberg that French lenders had been held back by their inability to buy foreign rivals.