On 19 March 2025, the European Commission adopted its strategy for the savings and investments union (SIU). The initiative will improve the way the EU financial system channels savings to productive investments with the aim of fostering people’s wealth and well‑being, while boosting EU economic growth and competitiveness.
“To succeed, we need a well‑functioning, efficient, deepened integrated capital market and banking sector that brings together savers, institutional investors and companies. My vision is simple: I want European savers to earn a fair return on their savings. And I want European businesses and innovators to have access to the financing they need to drive our economy forward. I want everyone to be able to find the right counterpart, and the right opportunity under the savings and investments union”, said Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union.
The scale of investment required to ensure EU competitiveness while addressing the clean and digital transitions is massive. The EU must urgently unlock its potential if it is to realise its strategic priorities, which the Draghi report estimates at an additional €750‑800 billion per year by 2030. These amounts are further impacted by increased defence needs. The SIU is as an enabler that will create a financing ecosystem to support the EU’s competitiveness across all economic sectors and help it to meet its significant investment priorities.
The EU has a talented workforce, innovative companies and a large pool of household savings of around €10 trillion in bank deposits. Although bank deposits are safe and easy to access, they usually earn less money than investments in capital markets. The SIU offers citizens the choice and opportunities to pursue better returns by putting their savings to work in capital markets. Investing directly in capital markets would also entail more support to investments, supporting in turn the real economy by enabling companies across Europe to grow, innovate and create jobs.
The SIU strategy is based around four main elements
- Citizens and savings: Retail savers already play a central role in financing the EU economy via bank deposits, but they should have the opportunity, if they wish, to hold more of their savings in higher‑yielding capital‑market instruments including when saving for retirement. The SIU will introduce measures to foster retail participation
- Investment and financing: To stimulate investments, in particular those in critical sectors, the Commission will introduce initiatives aimed at improving availability and access to capital for all businesses, including small and medium enterprises
- Integration and scale: Reducing inefficiencies stemming from fragmentation will entail a significant effort to remove any regulatory or supervisory barriers to cross‑border operations of market infrastructures, asset management and distribution of funds. This will enable businesses to scale efficiently across the EU
- Efficient supervision in the Single Market: The Commission will propose measures to ensure all financial market participants receive similar treatment, irrespective of their location in the EU. This will entail reinforcing the use of convergence tools as well as exploring moving supervision from national to EU levels in some areas
For the success of the SIU, an integrated EU banking sector, based on a single rulebook is crucial. The Commission will continue working on the completion of the banking union and assess the overall situation of the banking system in the Single Market, including its competitiveness.
The next steps for the SIU will focus on continuing the dialogue and consultation with stakeholders, in order to prepare the impactful measures planned for 2025. Implementation will rely on a mix of legislative and non‑legislative measures, including initiatives developed at national level, and success will depend on the joint efforts of all parties involved, including EU institutions, Member States, financial industry and civil society. In the second quarter of 2027, the Commission will publish a mid‑term review of the overall progress in achieving the savings and investments union.
Factsheet: The Savings and Investments Union – Connecting savings and productive investments
Related links
Savings and investments union
Back to the Finance news hub
