EU Antitrust Head Seeks More Support for Cross-Border Bank Mergers

Teresa Ribera, the European Union’s antitrust leader, is calling on EU nations to support cross-border bank mergers.

She said the move would help complete the single market, Reuters reported Wednesday (June 17). Her comments follow Germany’s rejection of Italian bank UniCredit’s bid to acquire German lender Commerzbank

EU policymakers say cross-border bank mergers can help fund the multitrillion-euro investments required to pay for the EU’s green and ⁠digital transformation, the report said. Plans for a banking union have fizzled as bankers and supervisors say that a lack of a joint guarantee system for euro zone depositors is hindering progress.

“Completing the single market remains one of Europe’s most urgent competitiveness priorities,” Ribera told a conference, per the report. “Cross-border mergers of our large European banks would help in that direction. It is urgently needed.”

“Member states should applaud these deals for the overall good,” she added, according to the report.

Germany on Tuesday (June 16) officially turned down UniCredit’s offer for German competitor Commerzbank shares, pointing to a low price and worries about what it characterized as the Italian bank’s aggressive approach, the report said.

In February, cross-border banking mergers in Europe reached their highest level in almost 20 years. A series of multibillion-euro bank mergers helped to bring the total value of cross-border European banking deals to 17 billion euros (about $20 billion) during 2025, compared to 3.4 billion euros (about $4 billion) in 2024.

Last month, Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis said Europe needs bigger banks and more cross-border mergers between lenders.

“We need European rather than national champions, and yes, we need more banking consolidation in Europe, we need more cross-border M&As,” said Pierrakakis, whose comments were reported by Bloomberg News.

While not commenting on specific banks Pierrakakis, who is also Greece’s finance chief, said the EU could benefit from larger players.

“If you compare the technological investments of European banks to American banks or Chinese banks, you will understand why we need bigger banks in Europe to facilitate and sustain more technological investment,” he said at a gathering of his fellow euro-area finance chiefs. “We need bigger banks.”