Educational Seminar

📅 13 June 2025

🕔 From 10:00 to 11:30 (registration and welcome coffee at 9:30)

📍 European Parliament

Context

NBFI is an integral part of the EU’s financial system, comprising diverse financial activities, entities and infrastructures. The sector includes regulated entities like asset managers and investment funds, pension funds and insurance companies, but also un- or less-regulated entities, like family offices for example. These market participants have very different business models, balance sheets and governance structures, and are subject to distinct EU regulatory frameworks.

Non-bank financial intermediaries’ assets amounted to roughly €42.9 trillion in Q3 2023, representing 41% of the EU financial sector’s assets; banks’ assets by way of comparison accounted for 36%. NBFI plays an increasingly important role in financing the real economy and in managing the savings of European households and corporates alike. NBFI also contributes to the resilience of the financial system through private risk sharing, thereby reducing reliance on traditional bank lending. These factors make non-bank financial intermediation central to the success of the Savings and Investments Union (SIU).

Nevertheless, non-bank financial intermediation can amplify risk in financial markets if liquidity transformation and leverage are not properly managed. Over the years, the EU has introduced several regulations and directives governing the activities of different NBFI market participants and markets to mitigate risks from the sector. Most recently, the European Commission launched a consultation assessing the adequacy of macroprudential policies for non-bank financial intermediation, for which a feedback statement was published in Q1 2025. A ‘macroprudential package’ may stem from this work. As such, the purpose of this seminar will be to explain the role of non-bank  financial intermediation in the financial system and its importance in the development of integrated and efficient European capital markets.

Points for discussion

This EPFSF educational seminar aims to provide an overview of non-bank financial intermediation, the actors involved and recent milestones in the evolution of the sector. It will be an opportunity for participants to better understand this area of the financial system and its relevance to the SIU agenda. It will address topics including: 

• Key factors that have led to the growth of NBFI since the Global Financial Crisis.
• The role of NBFI in connecting citizens’ long-term savings with productive uses of capital, supporting the real economy and helping more people share in the benefits of economic prosperity.
• Understanding the different business models and investment strategies of pension funds, asset managers / investment funds, insurers and banks.
• An overview of the different financial stability-related regulatory frameworks which seek to mitigate systemic risk.
• The main principals that underpin resilient financial markets.

Program and guests

9:30 Registration and welcome coffee
10:00 Event

Speakers:

• Diego Valiante, Team Leader on macroprudential policies for Non-Bank Financial Intermediation (NBFI), DG FISMA, European Commission
• Federico Cupelli, Deputy Director for Regulatory Policy, EFAMA
• Nicolas Jeanmart, Head of Personal & General Insurance, Insurance Europe
• Matti Leppälä, Secretary General/CEO, PensionsEurope
• Moderator: David Reed, Director, EPFSF Secretariat