LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - A senior British official has taken over the chair of a key European Union committee charged with drafting financial regulation, the country's finance ministry said late on Sunday.
Michael Ellam, one of Britain's top negotiators at global financial summits, will lead meetings of the EU's Financial Services Committee, where national officials from the 27 EU countries hammer out technical regulation for their finance ministers' approval.
Finance minister George Osborne said this appointment -- alongside the recent EU approval of UK Financial Services Authority regulator Verena Ross to run the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority -- was good news for Britain.
'Part of maintaining the UK's place as the world's leading financial marketplace is making sure we're at the heart of the global effort to reform the sector to make it stronger and safer,' he said.
'That's why it's so important that two of our top policymakers will be at the centre of both making the rules and implementing them,' he added.
Britain had been concerned that pan-EU financial services rules geared towards smaller European financial centres risked eroding London's attractiveness for the global financial services industry.
Osborne's Conservative Party has also criticised the previous Labour administration for failing to ensure economic portfolios were given to Britons at the European Commission, the EU secretariat which generates much of the bloc's legislation.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Mike Nesbit) Keywords: BRITAIN EU/REGULATION (Reuters Messaging: david.milliken.reuters.com@reuters.net; david.milliken@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5109) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Michael Ellam, one of Britain's top negotiators at global financial summits, will lead meetings of the EU's Financial Services Committee, where national officials from the 27 EU countries hammer out technical regulation for their finance ministers' approval.
Finance minister George Osborne said this appointment -- alongside the recent EU approval of UK Financial Services Authority regulator Verena Ross to run the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority -- was good news for Britain.
'Part of maintaining the UK's place as the world's leading financial marketplace is making sure we're at the heart of the global effort to reform the sector to make it stronger and safer,' he said.
'That's why it's so important that two of our top policymakers will be at the centre of both making the rules and implementing them,' he added.
Britain had been concerned that pan-EU financial services rules geared towards smaller European financial centres risked eroding London's attractiveness for the global financial services industry.
Osborne's Conservative Party has also criticised the previous Labour administration for failing to ensure economic portfolios were given to Britons at the European Commission, the EU secretariat which generates much of the bloc's legislation.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Mike Nesbit) Keywords: BRITAIN EU/REGULATION (Reuters Messaging: david.milliken.reuters.com@reuters.net; david.milliken@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5109) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.