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Presenting the Economic Survey of the Euro Area 2009, Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, emphasised the need for a more centralised EU supervisors for multinational banks and insurance companies operating in the European Union (EU).



Financial innovation and integration has led to the development of large, complex, cross-border financial institution within the EU. However, regulation is still carried out primarily at the national level. Therefore, the OECD calls for an integrated approach to EU supervision. Suggestions by Angel Gurria include "the establishment of a single EU financial supervisor or European system of supervisors with a central agency working in tandem with national supervisors".



This follows recent statements by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet saying that the ECB would be willing to assume the new monitoring task, if an agreement is found among member states. However, the bank only has a mandate to act on behalf of the 16 eurozone countries.



UNI Finance supports OECD's call for more coherent supervision of cross-border financial groups. It has been calling for more international cooperation among supervisory authorities since the beginning of the financial crisis. (See: Demands of UNI-Europa Finance on regulation of financial markets)