EU adopts new proposals to strengthen financial supervision

BRUSSELS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission (EC) adopted on Monday additional legislative proposals to further strengthen financial supervision in Europe.

The proposals aim to make targeted changes to the existing financial services legislation to ensure that the new supervision measures adopted at an EU meeting last month could work effectively, the EC said in a statement.

The EC, the European Union (EU)'s executive arm, adopted on Sept. 23 a package of draft legislation to create the European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS) with three new European Supervisory Authorities to strengthen financial supervision within Europe and identify risks in the financial system at an early stage.

"This proposal complements and reinforces our supervision package of 23 September and provides more detail about precisely what powers are proposed for the new European Supervisory Authorities and in what areas," said European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy.

McGreevy urged the European Council and the European Parliamentto adopt the whole supervision package in good time to allow the new European Supervisory Authorities to come into being at the end of 2010.

The current financial crisis has highlighted weaknesses in the EU's supervisory framework, which remains fragmented along national lines despite the creation of a European single market more than a decade ago, and the importance of pan-European supervisional institutions.