“We must finally make use of Europe’s economies of scale,” Sewing said on Wednesday at the start of a banking conference organized by the Handelsblatt newspaper and broadcast online.

“It was and remains right to regulate big banks particularly carefully. In Europe, however, we have at the same time done a lot to prevent banks from becoming large in the first place. But that is a questionable course,” said Sewing, who has also been president of the Association of German Banks (BdB) since July 1.

US-based banks have the advantage of efficient banking and capital markets, Sewing said. “To catch up again, Europe also needs a stronger banking and capital market. Otherwise, we will not be able to hold our own in a polarized global economy between the US and China.

“We need a big leap now” towards a capital markets union in Europe, he said.

The EU Commission has been planning a capital markets union since September 2015, but implementation has faltered.

When it came to his own company, Sewing said Deutsche Bank was not yet ready for any mergers or acquisitions, and was concentrating on its own restructuring.

“The best preparation for the next step is to be in good shape ourselves. That’s the case in sports, and in business too,” he said at the Handelsblatt event.