European Central Bank (ECB) vice-president Vítor Constâncio has called for a "deep reflection" about the use of "small public support" to help shore-up some banking sectors in the event of market failure.

The current interpretation of European law made it difficult for countries to establish asset management companies – bad banks – to take over the distressed assets of banks, he said.

But this approach had been successfully used in several European countries before the adoption of the European