Europe Moves Towards a Single Banking Supervisor for the Euro Zone

European Union leaders took a big stride towards establishing a single banking supervisor for the euro zone, agreeing it would enter into force next year, opening the way for the bloc's rescue fund to inject capital directly into ailing banks.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the 27 leaders agreed at a Brussels summit to adopt a legal framework by the end of this year giving the European Central Bank overall responsibility for banking supervision.

“Once this is agreed, the single supervisory mechanism could probably be effectively operational in the course of 2013,” he told a news conference after nearly 10 hours of talks.

French and EU officials said all 6,000 banks in the single currency area would gradually come under ECB supervision by 2014, starting with banks receiving state aid, then large cross-border institutions.

via CNBC