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 — but not much. Read More »