EU commissioner for financial services Maria Luís Albuquerque rejected bank
lobby calls to split the bloc's wide-ranging banking reform, saying a single
package is needed to address fragmentation, reduce red tape, lower cross-border
barriers and relax some regulation. Eleven senior bank chiefs from the EU,
Switzerland and the UK had urged the Commission last week to prioritize
“simplified” reforms and delay contentious items such as a European deposit
insurance scheme; Albuquerque said the measures are intended to strengthen the
EU economy rather than to benefit banks.
