European Financial Integration 2026

Registration and coffee

Welcome and opening remarks

Keynote speech

Luis De Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB)

Presentation of the ECB's report on Financial Integration and Structure in the Euro Area

• John Fell, Deputy Director General of the Directorate General Macroprudential Policy and Financial Stability, ECB

Presentation of the European Commission’s European Financial Stability and Integration Review

• Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), European Commission  

Coffee break

Fireside chat

Is the strategy for building the savings and investments union effective?

Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute and former President of the Italian Council of Ministers

Moderator: Rebecca Christie, Senior Fellow, Bruegel

Session 1

From pillars to portfolios: rethinking pensions for an entrepreneurial Europe  

Chair: Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, Deputy Director-General of DG FISMA, European Commission

Panellists:

• Geraldine Leegwater, Chief Investment Management, PGGM
• Beate Petry, Head of Global Pensions & Benefits, BASF SE, and Chairwoman of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für betriebliche Altersversorgung e.V. (German pension association)
• Patrick Hoedjes, Head of the Policy and Supervisory Convergence Department, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
• Tabea Bucher-Koenen, Professor of Finance, University of Mannheim, and Head of the Pensions and Sustainable Financial Markets Research Unit, Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)  

Session 2

How can a more integrated banking sector enhance the competitiveness of the EU economy?

Chair: Frank Elderson, member of the Executive Board and Vice-Chair of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, ECB

Panellists:

• Jonás Fernández Álvarez, Member of the European Parliament (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) and member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
• María Abascal, Director General of the Spanish Banking Association and Chair of EBF Executive Committee
• Britta Schmidt, Senior EU Banks Analyst, Autonomous Research
• Ignazio Angeloni, Senior Policy Fellow, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE (Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe), Goethe University Frankfurt  

Keynote speech

Maria Luís Albuquerque, European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union  

End of conference