ECB calls for activating banking union in 2014

ECB Executive Board member Jörg Asmussen said today that all of the elements of the EU banking union should be activated at the same time, by mid-2014.

This way the ECB has shown its opposition to Germany's stance that the banking union can't be set up without modifying the EU treaties first, even though such a process could last several years. France, Spain and the European Commission are also against this move.

Asmussen believes that EU's scheme to deal with struggling banks should be in place at the same time as the ECB takes over supervision for Eurozone financial institutions.

"We want a single European resolution regime, together with a single resolution agency and a single resolution fund that is financed by a levy from the banking industry,” the ECB policymaker said before the Ecofin meeting. “This should come into place in parallel with the single supervisory mechanism hopefully by the summer of next year.”

He also added that the European Central Bank would conduct an exhaustive asset quality review of the banks which will come under its supervision.