EU Leaders Grapple with Bank Risks as Economy Weakens

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, left, speaks with Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger, center, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, left, speaks with Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger, center, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
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EU Leaders Grapple with Bank Risks as Economy Weakens

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, left, speaks with Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger, center, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, left, speaks with Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger, center, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Union leaders gathered Friday to gauge the risk of a banking crisis developing from recent global financial turbulence and hitting the economy even harder than the energy crunch tied to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The deliberations by EU government heads in Brussels follow US regulators shutting down two US banks, including Silicon Valley Bank, and a Swiss-orchestrated takeover of troubled lender Credit Suisse by rival UBS, The Associated Press said.

The emergency actions on both sides of the Atlantic revived memories of the 2008 global financial meltdown and the ensuing EU sovereign debt crisis, which almost broke apart the euro currency now shared by 20 European countries.

“For the moment, we see no reason to be worried,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told reporters on his way to the EU meeting. “But we monitor it really closely, almost on a daily basis, because no one knows what can happen.”

The European economy has been slowing rapidly since Russia invaded Ukraine 13 months ago to the day, leaving the EU flirting with recession. The war has fueled inflation by prompting cuts in supplies of previously abundant Russian oil, natural gas and coal and by denting consumer and business confidence.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, expects economic growth in the 27-nation bloc to slow to 0.8% this year from 3.5% in 2022 and 5.4% in 2021. A projected rebound in growth to 1.6% next year depends on a sound banking sector able to lend to businesses and consumers and protect deposits.

The EU has beefed up its regulation of financial institutions since the euro debt crisis, and little sign has emerged so far of broader contagion in Europe from Credit Suisse’s dramatic rescue.

Nonetheless, financial supervision in Europe remains a patchwork of EU and national authorities pursuing common approaches rather than heeding an actual single European rulebook.

For example, the euro area still lacks a common deposit insurance system, which is widely considered a key defense against future European bank crises. A stalemate among national capitals over how to share risk has left the bloc without this regulatory pillar.

On the market front, officials have said European banks generally have adequate cash buffers — while still urging vigilance.

“I am very confident in the amount of liquidity, the amount of resilience, that our banking system has built up,” said Paschal Donohoe, who leads the group of eurozone finance chiefs and is Ireland’s public expenditure minister. “But we can never be complacent.”

One reason for prudence is that the European Central Bank has raised interest rates from record lows, denting the balance sheets of lenders and making it more expensive for consumers and businesses to get loans. The ECB is seeking to bring stubbornly high euro-area inflation, which was 8.5% in February, closer to a 2% target.

ECB President Christine Lagarde and Donohoe are attending the EU summit to share their views about the economy.

“I’m really looking forward to the discussions with the president of the European Central Bank to understand where we are going and what tools they plan to use in the future — what are the prospects for our economy and inflation,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.



Saudi Arabia Leads Middle East Venture Capital Investments

The Saudi capital Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi capital Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Leads Middle East Venture Capital Investments

The Saudi capital Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi capital Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The "H1 2025 MENA Venture Investment Report" revealed that Saudi Arabia maintained its first rank across MENA in terms of Venture Capital (VC) funding in H1 2025, witnessing a total VC deployment of $860 Million (SAR 3.2 billion), surpassing the total VC funding of 2024 (full year).

This achievement reflects the development the Kingdom is witnessing in various economic and financial sectors in light of the Saudi Vision 2030 and its goals to strengthen the national economy.

According to the report published by the venture data platform MAGNiTT, the Kingdom captured the highest share of total VC funding in the MENA region in H1 2025, accounting for 56% of the total capital deployed in the region. The report also revealed that Saudi Arabia achieved a record number of 114 VC deals for the first half of 2025.

This confirms the attractiveness of the Saudi market, enhances its competitive environment, and consolidates the strength of the Kingdom's economy as the largest economy in MENA.

Dr. Nabeel Koshak, CEO and Board Member at SVC, commented: “The Kingdom's leading position in the VC scene in the region comes as a result of many governmental initiatives launched to stimulate the VC and startups ecosystem within the Saudi Vision 2030 programs.”

“We at SVC are committed to continuing to lead the development of the ecosystem by stimulating private investors to provide support for startups and SMEs to be capable of fast and high growth, leading to diversifying the national economy and achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030.”

SVC is an investment company established in 2018. It is a subsidiary of the SME Bank, part of the National Development Fund (NDF).

SVC aims to stimulate and sustain financing for Startups and SMEs from pre-Seed to pre-IPO through investment in funds and direct investment in startups and SMEs.