“The urgency of growth” is the theme of this year’s International Banking Conference organized by Banco Santander, whose president, Ana Botín, opened the session with a passionate defense of the European banking sector, which she described as straitjacketed “by regulation exceeding 90,000 pages, the equivalent of 50 bibles or 100 Quixotes.” “In the US, capital requirements are going down. In Europe, they are going up, and the differences are going to widen, by 3.5 trillion in three years…” “The cost of taxes is also different: in Europe, 58 out of every 100 cents go to taxes, and rising. In the US, it’s 42 out of every 100, and falling. Putting us at 42 like in the US would free up 500 billion in five years, for giving credit to SMEs, to individuals…”
Botín made a passionate defense of the European state model: “It is the best model, it is not perfect but it is the best.” A model in which “the State is a great partner in our business, because they say we pay a tax rate (on corporate profits) of 15% but it is not true, we pay 27%.” But to pay, you need to have profits, and “if we are not competitive there is no growth, and without growth there are neither profits nor financial stability.”
And she reiterated that regulatory simplification is necessary in all areas – not just in finance – in line with what Draghi pointed out, “who says that we are worse off than last year… It cannot be that 22 permits are needed to install solar panels on the roof of a house.”
