ABN AMRO’s announced acquisition of NIBC Bank carries low execution risk and is marginally supportive of the group’s strategic development and long-term credit profile.

Scope has published the annual update of its General Project Finance Rating Methodology. The changes are mainly editorial and aimed at providing further clarity and ensuring consistency with Scope’s other rating methodologies and rating definitions.

EU banks trail US peers in profitability amid rising compliance costs. So policymakers are pushing to simplify regulation. This could bring positive outcomes but the potential for missteps should not be overlooked.

European banks have little choice but to accelerate investment to adapt to digital payments now that the European Central Bank (ECB) plans a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2027.

Europe is seeing rapid growth in data centres – facilities notorious for high resource consumption – often in regions already facing water stress. The trend adds a significant sustainability challenge on top of the data centres’ heavy energy consumption.

Germany’s largest banks are poised for robust operating performance in the quarters ahead, resilience which they will need to absorb the relatively high cost of risk amid lingering concerns about asset quality, says Scope Ratings.

The recent collapse of First Brands, in casting a shadow over the direct-lending sector in the US, raises important questions: does the rapid growth in private credit amplify corporate credit risk and will this be different in Europe compared with the US?

Climate change can materially affect the creditworthiness of all issuer types and asset classes, so we have harmonised our general framework for capturing this risk, which can be applied to produce issuer-specific Key Climate Risk Indicators (KCRIs).

The uncertain political environment is likely to constrain market sentiment in Q4 2025, potentially dampening the earnings momentum French banks built in the first half, supported by strong revenues from retail banking, insurance and wealth management.

Aligning the tracks of Europe’s digital finance landscape will reinforce the euro’s global role, increase resilience against economic fragmentation and enhance European autonomy. Slow movers among European banks could face revenue and funding pressures.