EU moots new financial norms to check cross-border regulators

With the hope of bringing about global regulation in the banking industry, the European Union is pushing ahead with proposals to create a new European financial regulator, called the European Systematic Risk Board (ESRB), which could act as an intermediary between national regulators.

EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso announced the plans in Brussels yesterday, which will be presented at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh beginning today.

''Our aim is to protect European taxpayers from a repeat of the dark days of autumn 2008, when governments had to pour billions of euros into the banks,' said Barroso.

''This European system can also inspire a global one and we will argue for that in Pittsburgh,'' he added.

The new regulator, which the commission hopes to set up in 2010, will have the power to impose binding rules on national regulators such as the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), but it won't have the final say on decisions on an individual country's taxpayer's money.

Barroso's announcement follows a consultation over the measures launched in June, but the detail of the plans has remained largely unchanged.