FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank has shortlisted Germany’s Claudia Buch and Spain’s Margarita Delgado for the role of chief banking supervisor, two sources told Reuters.
The winner will succeed Andrea Enria as the chair of the ECB’s Single Supervisory Board on Jan.
1 and oversee Europe’s biggest banks at a time of upheaval due to a surge in interest rates and competition from tech firms.
One of the sources said Buch, the Bundesbank’s vice president, was the favourite unless her country, Germany, decided to prioritise other European Union jobs.
Buch recently joined the ECB’s Supervisory Board, which includes members from the euro zone’s 20 member states plus Bulgaria, after a reshuffle atop the Bundesbank.
In a speech on Wednesday she said a “a broad social dialogue” was needed about the role of banks in society.
Delgado, the Spanish central bank’s deputy governor, is seen as a top-level supervisor with plenty of experience, but Spain already has the ECB’s vice presidency, an issue as the European Union tries to spread jobs around its members.
The winner will be chosen by the ECB’s Governing Council in the autumn following a consultation with the Supervisory Board.
She will then need to be approved by the European Parliament and confirmed by the Council of the European Union by December so she can start on Jan 1.
(Reporting by Francesco Canepa in Frankfurt; Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi in Frankfurt; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
