Early Stages Of Eurozone Banking Union To Be Difficult

The euro was strong on Tuesday morning as investors continued to shy away from the dollar. The common currency traded at $1.3777 at 5:00 GMT on Tuesday. The region is slowly crawling out of its longest post war recession; however it has a long road ahead with many countries pinned under a mountain of debt. Now that the immediate crisis is over, the European Central Bank has set its sights on pushing forward the banking union which has been touted as one of the most momentous decisions the bloc has made since its creation. Related:

Unfortunately, the bank is likely to face several problems putting plans into action, including convincing all of the eurozone's members to get on board. Germany has been dubious about the process, German officials are reluctant to give up power over their banks and do not want to pay the bills for other struggling euro nations. Last week ECB President Mario Draghi announced the guidelines for the bank's assessment of the bloc's 124 largest banks. The assessments are set to be carried out before November 2014 when the ECB steps into its new role as bank supervisor. By conducting the assessment, which Draghi pledged will be quiet difficult to pass, eurozone policymakers are hoping to restore confidence to the eurozone's banking sector. Moving forward the

reported that markets will likely see swings and roundabouts as eurozone leaders attempt to agree how to handle the results of the assessment. The discussions to come will likely center around whether to use the assessments as a tool to change the industry's structure or not.