BANKING : BANK SUPERVISOR WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE, NOUY TELLS MEPS.

The EU bank supervisor will be accountable and transparent, assured French national Daniele Nouy. This aspect is vital, she said at a hearing of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), on 27 November. Committee members will vote, on 5 December, on her candidacy for the ECB Supervisory Board chair, submitted by the ECB Governing Council.

It is very legitimate for Parliament "to expect the new supervisor to be accountable and transparent. This will be very high on my agenda," said Nouy. She added: "Citizens are suffering from the crisis now" and they "want to know what we are doing [ ]. I have no problems about complying fully with the letter and the spirit of the interinstitutional agreement." She was referring to the agreement on accountability laboriously negotiated by the EP and ECB, and that ended up being sealed at the level of the EP and ECB presidents. It provides, for example, that the ECB Supervisory Board will present a comprehensive and meaningful record of its proceedings.

Asked what competence the job required, Nouy stated that "the need for long experience in supervision is a key point". She is currently secretary-general of the Prudential Supervisory Authority of Banque de France. "I have no experience as a banker, which could have been a further advantage," she admitted.

The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM)...