The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to locate
the three proposed agencies supervising the European Union’s
banks, financial markets and insurance business in one place:
Frankfurt.  The idea favored by European governments is to have
the banking supervisor in London, the insurance supervisor in
Paris and the markets supervisor in Brussels.  The reason to put
them all in Germany’s financial center is to “ease interaction
among them,” the Parliament says. Frankfurt is also where
the overarching European Systemic Risk Board will be based.  The
idea has been around for a while and was back by the
Parliament’s economics committee in May. To sweeten the pill for
likely livid governments, MEP’s decided that while the
headquarters would be in Frankfurt, there could be
representative offices in major cities around Europe.  Observers
say the odds of the agencies all ending up in Frankfurt are
slightly better than Emile Heskey winning the Golden Boot at the
World Cup — he’s already gone home, goalless