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.

Scope seeks market participants’ feedback on analytical developments

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.

Scope Ratings has published the performance overview of notes issued by Marzio Finance, a EUR 10bn securitisation programme backed by ‘cessione del quinto’ and ‘delegazione di pagamento’ (CQS) loans originated by IBL Banca.

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.

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The claim that Europe’s gradual economic and geopolitical decline is irreversible is overstated. But it will require a strategic political shift to change the current trajectory.