The European Parliament's negotiators and the Irish Presidency of the EU Council reached a deal on banking supervision legislation. According to MEPs, the deal will strengthen EU-level oversight of many EU banks.

A deal on banking supervision legislation was struck by Parliament and Council negotiators on the 19 of March. MEPs highlighted that Parliament's negotiators inserted many provisions strengthening the system's transparency and accountability. They also ensured that its working structures will be imbued with a European spirit, rather than reflecting just a sum of national interests. The European Commission proposed a banking union with stronger supervisory powers for the European Central Bank in September 2012.

The European Parliament's negotiators pushed through changes on a stronger accountability of the supervisor, stronger role for national parliaments, better access to documents both for the EU supervisory authority vis-à-vis banks and also for the EP and national parliaments vis-à-vis the EU supervisory authority, attractive participation conditions for Non-Eurozone countries, strict division of European Central Bank staff between monetary policy and supervision, so as to ensure that the supervisory arm of the ECB is truly accountable, the strengthening the European Banking Authority, in relation to the ECB, and also improving its ability to undertake stress tests and obtain information, and the establishing a system which will uphold the diversity of the EU banking sector.

On the other hand, for legal reasons, the details of Parliament's powers of control over the ECB supervisor will be drawn up through an inter-institutional arrangement. Parliament's adoption of the final legislation is contingent on the successful conclusion of this arrangement.