Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke has proposed a wider mandate for the European Central Bank's banking supervisory committee in order to fight flaws in financial supervision flagged in a report a year ago.
"The ECB would share responsibility for the committee with European Union finance ministers, Welteke told German Boersen-zeitung in an interview.
This requires however that the committee be mandated by finance ministers to also handle concrete supervisory issues and not just the ECB-relevant matter of financial stability," Welteke was quoted as saying.
A spokesman for the European Central Bank said he could not immediately comment on the interview.
Banking supervision is currently the responsibility of national institutions, which in some but not all cases are central banks.
However, mergers including cross-border link ups between banks and insurance companies have led to a debate on whether a decentralised approach is still the right one.
A report to EU finance ministers drawn up last year concluded more cooperation between supervisory bodies was needed to fight financial crises and central banks should be involved at an early stage.
The Maastricht treaty gives the ECB only limited powers in financial supervision. Its Banking Supervisory Committee (BSC) acts as a forum for authorities to share information on the institutions they watch, but the role it would play in a crisis is unclear.