New EU bodies to supervise financial institutions

THREE European supervisory authorities covering banking, stock markets and insurance should ensure such financial institutions can no longer gamble at the taxpayers’ expense, according to the European Parliament that voted through the reforms.

Irish MEPs welcomed the bodies due to be operating by January, saying it should protect citizens in the future from events like the collapse of Equitable Life and the debacle of Anglo Irish Bank.

It took about 18 months battling between the EU’s institutions and the member states to finally agree the powers of the new bodies as Britain battled to protect the City of London from Brussels control and the parliament wanted to tighten controls as much as possible.