In co-operation with Freshfields, the Institute for Law and Finance (ILF) successfully held the 12th Annual Conference on the Banking Union on 3 November 2026 at Goethe University Frankfurt and online.
With competitiveness and simplification dominating the European agenda, this year’s conference looked at what comes next for the Banking Union. It brought together viewpoints from supervisors, lawmakers, the financial industry and academia to explore opportunities and proposals for simplifying the current regulatory and supervisory framework. Key aspects discussed included the current simplification efforts at both legislative and supervisory level, in particular in light of the recently published Report on the Competitiveness of the Banking Sector and the Single Market in Banking of the European Commission. Implications of these efforts for the current state and the future of the Banking Union were also considered.
At the beginning of the conference, Dr. Hendrik Haag, Member of the Executive Board, Institute for Law and Finance, and Dr. Alexander Glos, Partner, Freshfields, delivered the welcoming remarks.
The first keynote speech was given by Pedro Machado, Member of the Supervisory Board, European Central Bank on “Simplify what can be simplified now, Let banks reach scale across borders and Recognize that technology has changed the economics of banking”. He then joined Roland Boekhout, CEO, ASN Bank, for a fireside chat on the ECB Industry Dialogue, moderated by Daphne van der Houwen, Counsel, Freshfields.
After the coffee break, Paulina Dejmek Hack, Director-General, DG FISMA, European Commission, delivered the second keynote speech, followed by a Q&A session. Thomas Groß, CEO, Helaba and President of the Association of German Public Banks (VÖB), then gave an industry perspective in a fireside chat moderated by Dr. Janina Heinz, Partner, Freshfields.
The conference was closed by a panel discussion between Thomas Groß, Prof. Dr. Rainer Haselmann, Professor of Finance, Accounting and Taxation at Goethe University, and Bernd Rummel, Senior Policy Expert, European Banking Authority. The panel was moderated by Dr. Janina Heinz. Dr. Glos finally closed the conference with brief remarks before the participants continued the discussion over lunch.
