The Financial Times reported today that Jean-Claude Juncker, the incoming President of the European Commission, is considering creating an EU financial services directorate charged with regulating the City of London and ensuring stability in the region.
It is believed the plan is to appoint a single commissioner to be responsible for a united financial services portfolio now that the Commission is implementing a series of post-crisis financial reforms.
According to the same article, potential candidates for the job include Jyrki Katainen, the former Finnish prime minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, and Valdis Dombrovskis, the former Latvian prime minister.
Michel Barnier is currently the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services and, whilst the European financial reform dominated his agenda in the last five years, he was also responsible for developing the common market.
Citing senior officials, the FT reported that the new directorate would be a combination of banking and market units with financial stability unit, relocated from DG MARKT and DG ECFIN respectively.
Please read the full article here.