The European Parliament is expected to vote in May 2013 on the single supervisory mechanism, which allows the European Central Bank to exercise direct supervision on banks in the Eurozone. European banking supervision is the first step towards a banking union.

The EU Council and European Parliament have reached agreement on the proposal, but Germany has expressed objections to the final text, as no clear distinction is made between the ECB's monetary policy and its financial supervision.

De Brauw has prepared a legal alert about the banking union. Please contact one of your regular contacts at De Brauw if you would like to receive the alert. It can also be downloaded at www.debrauw.com

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