POLITICO: Parliament confirms EU banking nominee despite gender concerns

08 July 2020

Lawmakers overturn committee and back François-Louis Michaud for European Banking Authority post.

EU lawmakers backed François-Louis Michaud’s nomination to the European Banking Authority in a setback for members campaigning to put a woman in the executive director post.

The European Parliament voted 343-296 in favor of the Frenchman, with 56 abstentions, overturning his narrow rejection in the economics committee, where members had voiced concerns about gender equality in top financial roles.

Michaud, a European Central Bank supervisor who oversees the EU’s largest lenders, had sought to ease the committee’s worries by pledging to promote women at the EBA.

The approval of Michaud to the EBA’s second-highest post still leaves relations frayed between the regulator and Parliament.

MEPs blocked the nomination of the EBA board’s first nominee, Irish regulator Gerry Cross, in January due to similar fears over gender balance, as well as a revolving door with the financial industry.

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