The European banking sector continues to lose importance as reflected by the fact that both Societe Generale and BBVA will no longer form part of the Euro Stoxx50. Whatsmore, the ECB’s vice-president, Luis de Guindos, has warned of the need for the sector to continue with the merger process. According to de Guindos, this crisis has aggravated problems that already existed before Covid-19. These include high structural costs (commercial networks and staff), high leverage and low profitability.