Nouy to chair banking control
November 21, 2013
Daniele Nouy, a senior official at the Bank of France, looked set to become the European Union's first bank supervisor, following her nomination by the European Central Bank on Wednesday night.
The 62-year-old economist will still have to be confirmed by the European Parliament, where Nouy is to appear for a hearing on November 27.
If everything goes according to the ECB's plans, she would take up her job no later than January of next year. She would chair the supervisory board of the new European-wide overseer that is being set up and is scheduled to start operating in early 2014.
A woman, not by chance
The agency is part of a planned banking union and intended to strengthen oversight by moving control instruments from the national to the EU level.
Nouy would be in charge of supervising around 130 of the biggest European lenders, with the banks currently undergoing so-called stress tests to identify potential problems early on in an attempt to learn from mistakes made ahead of the global financial crisis starting in 2007/2008.
With the ECB's top positions occupied solely by men so far, the central bank's nomination also came on the back of massive criticism about the lack of women in key posts.
hg/msh (AFP, AP)