ECB eyes up increased supervisory role

THE European Central Bank is considering an increased supervisory role in the financial sector in Europe, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said yesterday.

“At this stage we are reflecting, meditating,” he said at a conference on globalisation. “I would say it might be possible.”

In the wake of the financial crisis, a number of top ECB officials, including the bank’s vice president, Lucas Papademos, and executive board member, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, have said the bank could take on an overarching supervisory role in Europe.