EU OKs New Financial Oversight Deal    09/07 12:47

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- European Union nations agreed to create new financial 
oversight institutions Tuesday, hoping to prevent a repeat of the government 
debt crisis that nearly left Greece bankrupt and brought the European banking 
system to its knees.

   The union's 27 finance ministers also agreed to give Greece the next chunk 
of its bailout funds but failed to find common ground on the introduction of a 
levy on banks or on a new tax on financial trading.

   The ministers --- called Ecofin --- decided to establish a new supervisory 
board over the financial industry and demand a more transparent sharing of 
government budgetary information --- a move prompted by the dubious accounting 
practices in Greece over the last few years.

   The systemic risk board, the principal new body backed Tuesday, will be 
chaired by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet out of 
Frankfurt. It still needs the formal backing of the European Parliament, but 
that is expected later this month.

   This shows the willingness of European countries to "put behind national 
interests for the sake of Europe," said Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany's finance 
minister.

   Belgium's finance minister Didier Reynders, who chaired the meeting, said 
stricter supervision was one of the most important lessons from the government 
debt crisis and insisted the deal was necessary now to make sure the new risk 
board begins work at the start of 2011.

   The EU reforms echo recent changes enacted in the United States, where a new 
council of regulators, led by the Treasury Secretary, has been established to 
monitor threats to the financial system. The U.S. has also created a new 
powerful independent consumer financial protection bureau within the Federal 
Reserve to write and enforce new regulations covering lending and credit.

   As well as creating a new financial architecture, the ministers also 
approved a second installment of emergency loans --- worth (euro)9 billion 
($11.5 billion) --- for Greece after the European Commission and the 
International Monetary Fund praised the country for the efforts it has made 
since the massive (euro)110 billion ($140 billion) bailout plan was agreed in 
May.

   Yet common ground could not be found on the introduction of new banking 
taxes.

   Although many countries in the EU have decided to impose a levy on bank 
profits, there is no Europe-wide agreement about what to do with the proceeds. 
Germany wants the revenues to be put in a rescue fund to pay for future banking 
bailouts while Britain wants to use the money for its own budgetary needs.

   "I made it clear ... that we did not support proposals for a European 
resolution fund," said British Finance Minister George Osborne.

   Even though a consensus has not emerged in the EU over the bank levy, Europe 
has in many ways gone further down the line than the U.S. after Congress failed 
to back a plan to impose a $19 billion tax on large banks and hedge funds.

   The transactions tax, which has been backed by non-governmental 
organizations, trade unions and politicians, does not look like it's going to 
get the broad backing within Europe's capitals, even though French President 
Nicolas Sarkozy said it's going to be a priority when France takes the chair of 
the Group of 20 countries next year.

   Osborne said the problem with the trading tax is the same as it has been 
since Nobel Laureate James Tobin first proposed it in 1970s --- if it's not 
introduced everywhere, then firms will just move their dealmaking elsewhere to 
avoid paying the tax.

   "I suspect that transaction taxes will be discussed for many decades to 
come," said Osborne.

   It certainly looks like it will continue to be a topic of conversation when 
the finance ministers meet again in an informal meeting at the end of the month 
--- Germany's Schaeuble said the transaction tax issue remained on the table 
and that the obstacles were not "insurmountable."

   Proponents of the measures had claimed they would curb excessive risk-taking 
and place the financial burden of any rescue package on financial institutions 
themselves instead of the taxpayer. During the financial crisis, governments 
across the EU provided financial institutions public support worth an 
astonishing 16.5 percent of the union's total worth.

   Tuesday's Ecofin meeting took place in a less feverish atmosphere than most 
recent gatherings, when the ministers faced the real prospect of Greece's 
potential bankruptcy. Only May's bailout of the country by its 15 partners in 
the eurozone and the IMF and a near $1 trillion rescue package to support other 
embattled eurozone economies helped ease concerns.

   Worries about the European economy and its ability to deal with large 
amounts of government debt have eased further by a recent run of 
better-than-expected data, progress by Greece in strengthening its bailed-out 
finances and the results of stress tests on 91 of the EU's banks.

   Though the most apocalyptic scenarios discussed a few months ago, such as 
the collapse of the euro currency, have been put on the back burner, market 
jitters remain. A report in the Wall Street Journal that the summer's stress 
tests into 91 EU banks understated some lenders' holdings of potentially risky 
government debt spooked markets Tuesday --- the euro was trading over a cent 
lower on the day at $1.2750.

   Investors know that the government debt crisis could flare up again, 
particularly as the 16 eurozone governments are set to issue more debt this 
month than they did in August.

   Eurozone governments have bond repayments of (euro)80 billion ($103 billion) 
in September, with around (euro)30 billion ($38 billion) due from Italy alone 
--- and the results of the debt sales will reveal what bond investors think of 
government finances.

   "There are growing concerns about a potential 'round 2' in the eurozone debt 
crisis as banks and some eurozone governments face a heavy funding schedule," 
warned Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.


(KA)