At a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Albania’s accession progress and called for further reforms. She outlined plans for accession roadmaps and EU preparations for enlargement, highlighting €213 million paid under the Growth Plan.
Stay ahead of EU financial and regulatory developments. This preview of the latest Insight EU Finance Monitoring Weekly provides an overview of the week’s key dossiers from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the Eurogroup, the ECB, EBA, ESMA, IMF, BIS, and other key European and global institutions. The full version of this monitoring was originally sent to subscribers on 26 September 2026.
Changes to the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) should strengthen investor protection and regulate firms providing access to decentralised finance (DeFi), which delivers financial services through blockchain protocols, ESMA recommends. Its proposals also address influencer marketing, staking, lending, fraud and non-compliant stablecoins.
EU and EEA banks entered the second half of the year with strong capital and liquidity buffers, growing lending and an 11.3% return on equity, the EBA’s latest Risk Dashboard shows. Loan quality remains sound, but geopolitical uncertainty and high asset valuations warrant close monitoring.
Europe’s reliance on US technology providers and card schemes could become a vulnerability during a disruption, Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque warned. She argued that European payment systems and deeper capital markets would strengthen resilience, support the euro and help innovative companies grow. What would it take to build them at European scale?
No EU Member State has notified full transposition of the revised industrial emissions directive, prompting letters of formal notice from the European Commission. It is also pursuing 26 states over hydrogen and gas market rules, alongside gaps in electricity, anti-money laundering, anti-trafficking and consumer protection laws. Governments have two months to respond.
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has announced her intention to appoint Isabel Schnabel as the IMF’s Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department.
The EU Commission proposes lifting the 2022 budgetary measures against Hungary, saying the rule of law breaches that triggered them have been addressed. The move would release €4.2 billion and restore access to Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe. MEP Tineke Strik calls for evidence that the reforms are working in practice, citing the ongoing phase-out of public interest trusts.
Rebuilding Ukraine could strengthen Europe’s industry, energy security and defence, the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies argues. It calls for a Marshall Plan centred on grants and estimates that at least €32 billion in annual EU funding is needed—more than twice the amount proposed for the next long-term budget.
Nearly 10 million people took part in the ECB’s survey on designs inspired by European culture or rivers and birds. Their views will inform the choice of a final concept, expected around year-end. The selected design will then be developed into banknotes intended to enter circulation gradually from the early 2030s.
The EU’s banking, insurance and markets supervisors say the financial system remains resilient, but reliance on non-EU technology providers could magnify disruption. They also flag AI-enabled cyberattacks and fast-growing private credit. Where could stress spread first?
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