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European Financial Integration 2026

Joint conference of the European Commission

and the European Central Bank

Thursday, 7 May 2026

Hybrid event: European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, and online

Registration - Expression of interest

To express your interest in attending the Joint conference of the European Commission and the European Central Bank in person please submit your contact details below. The organising committee will review your request and provide a response in due time.

Request registration
Programme
08:30

Registration and coffee

09:00

Welcome and opening remarks

09:15

Keynote speech

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

09:45

Presentation of the reports

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  

10:45

Coffee break

11:00

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

11:30

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:

  • Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Member of the European Parliament (Renew Europe Group)
  • 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)  
12:15

Lunch break

14:00

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  
15:30

Keynote speech

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

15:50

End of conference

General information

Date: 7 May 2026

Venue: European Central Bank, Sonnemannstrasse 20, 60314 Frankfurt am Main

Contacts:

This programme may be subject to change without notice.

Audiovisual notice: A photographer will be present at the event, capturing images for the ECB’s website/intranet. If you prefer not to have your photograph taken, please approach the photographer directly. The entire event will be live-streamed, recorded and published on YouTube and the ECB’s website shortly after the conference. Journalists will attend and report on the event.