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.

Webinar: Wednesday, November 5th 2025 - 3:00 PM (CET)

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.

Italian NPL collections in September nearly doubled compared with August (+95%). However, they remain significantly below the levels recorded in the same period last year, a trend that has persisted throughout the year.

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.