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Alexander Wynaendts, supervisory board chairman at Deutsche Bank, said Wednesday that Europe needs to reduce regulations and boost its output to compete with China and the US despite challenges posed by the Middle East war and intra-regional rivalries.
“In Europe, we have to work harder,” Wynaendts said at Semafor World Economy. “We have to work longer hours. We have to be more productive.”
However, “it’s very difficult to make these changes” because of a lack of cooperation between countries within Europe and a challenging regulatory environment for business, he said.
One example of the regionalization of Europe is its 37 telecommunication operators, compared to only three major players in the US, he said.
European banks and other businesses need to consolidate to achieve the necessary scale to attract investment and compete globally, he said.
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Wynaendts is set to get a 21% pay raise to €1.15 million ($1.35 million) because his current level “is no longer competitive in attracting and retaining highly qualified supervisory board members,” Deutsche Bank said ahead of its annual meeting next month.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank’s research arm has projected a 0.25% reduction to European Area GDP growth if the current increase in political uncertainty persists for the full year.
At Davos earlier this year, Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said Europe can’t afford to look back from the “rules-based order” of prior years to the world of strength and dominance today, but the emerging world stage offers both risks and opportunities.
“People want to invest in Europe – I heard that everywhere – so let’s stop talking and start doing,” he said in an interview on his LinkedIn page.