The governor of the Bank of France François Villeroy de Galhau returned to the charge on Saturday on the creation of a European “Financing and Investment Union”, in particular in order to finance the energy transition of companies without them having too much to get into debt.
Asked by La Tribune on Sunday about the high debt of French companies, the governor recognized that this was a point of attention.
French and European companies rely more on debt, while American companies favor equity financing – shares. However, this promotes innovation, by allowing more risk-taking, he explained in the interview given to the Tribune Dimanche.
This is why I am calling for a +Financing and Investment Union+ in Europe, to finance the two fundamental transitions underway, energy and digital, he insisted.
This financing and investment union (UFI) project constitutes one of the favorite themes of the governor of the Bank of France, who already considered during a conference in 2016 that it could encourage the development of a pan-European ecosystem. -European venture capital, so that Europe has investment funds of comparable sizes to those of the United States.
According to Franois Villeroy de Galhau, Europe’s major asset is its savings surplus of 370 billion euros, or nearly 3% of GDP, he specified in the interview on Saturday.
We must mobilize this capital by breaking down national borders, by offering the right products to savers, he insisted.