A referendum in Switzerland has rejected a proposal that would have seen top executives at a company restricted to salaries of no more than 12 times that of its lowest earners. Had the idea met with popular approval, says Brian Caplen, everyone in the country would have lost out.

Roberto Nicastro, UniCredit Group’s general manager, explains how Italy’s largest bank is tackling conflicting regulatory pressures, low interest rates and changing customer habits to become a bank for the future.

The corporate and investment banking arm of France’s Crédit Agricole has been through several rounds of strategic repositioning and its chief executive says its final shape is now in sight.

Politicians worrying about the supply of credit to small and medium-sized businesses see capital markets as a possible solution, but the lack of standardised loans in the sector is making securitisation difficult.

With the deadline for the Single Euro Payments Area looming, there is much speculation over who is actually ready to migrate, with many small and medium-sized enterprises lagging behind and businesses of all sizes struggling to implement systems for direct debits.

The US private placement bond market is proving popular with mid-sized European companies and those that lack credit ratings. American investors, starved of supply, hope the trend lasts a while longer. 

Without any legal authority over banks, the European Central Bank must act quickly if it is to maintain any influence in its role as a regional regulatory supervisor.