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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - A top European Central Bank official says the euro currency union needs U.S.-style centralized oversight so that individual countries don't have to deal with busted banks alone.
Joerg Asmussen said Friday in a speech in Milan, Italy, that "during the crisis in the U.S., it was federal institutions that stepped into the breach."
Europe has started building a centralized banking oversight. The ECB is checking banks for hidden losses before it starts supervising major eurozone banks late next year. But European officials are still at odds over an agency that could force banks to be broken up or sold.
Asmussen warned that until such an agency exists, individual euro governments must have funds ready to deal with any banks found to be in serious trouble.
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