A European Commission proposal for euro zone wide banking supervision can and should be introduced by a January 2013 target date despite opposition expressed by Germany, the European commissioner in charge of regulation said on Saturday.
Michel Barnier told Reuters in an interview that the EU's proposal envisaged centralised supervision for all euro zone banks, large and small, though oversight of less significant, day to day issues would remain with national authorities.
The January 2013 introduction of overarching supervision was "necessary and do-able," Barnier said, adding that he was confident that Germany would drop its resistance to parts of the plan.