EU must present united front to shield pandemic-hit banks, says regulator

European countries need to join forces to shield their banks from the coronavirus outbreak, one of the bloc's top regulators said on Monday, potentially using a 500 billion euro ($545 billion) EU recovery fund to do so.

The remarks from Jose Manuel Campa, who leads the European Banking Authority (EBA), will rekindle a divisive debate about whether rich countries such as Germany should support banks of poorer neighbours such as Italy.

Campa made his comments days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron proposed an EU recovery fund to help the bloc's worst-hit members to rebuild their economies after the coronavirus outbreak.

"It would make sense to have a European approach to support banks," Campa told Reuters.

"That could be in the form of a TARP-style precautionary recapitalisation. Here, the EU recovery fund could...

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