ECB 'to supervise' all eurozone banks

The European Commission wants the European Central Bank to act as supervisor for all eurozone banks, not just the region's biggest, the business daily Handelsblatt reported on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said at the end of June that the new banking supervisory authority, which is to be set up under the umbrella of the ECB, should be responsible for the single currency area's 25 biggest banks. But Handelsblatt, quoting EU Commission sources, said the EU's executive arm wants it to supervise all eurozone banks, including Germany's local savings and cooperative banks, even though Berlin does not see such a need. The newspaper quoted German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger as saying that plans for a banking supervisor for systemically relevant banks is "on the European agenda, however for savings banks that enjoy a high level of trust and made it through the crisis very well, there is no need for additional controls."