Sweden’s Finance Minister has poured cold water over proposals for the ECB to supervise banks across the EU.

Anders Borg says there is virtually no chance of an agreement being reached on the proposal before the end of the year.

His comments come at the end of the second day of talks with Eurogroup finance ministers in Cyprus.

The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says he wants to see the ECB take on the supervisory role for all banks across the EU – because of the impact the failures of small lenders has had on the financial crisis.