Consolidation of the eurozone's banks needs to go further and cross national borders more easily, the chief economist of the European Central Bank told an audience in Brussels today (November 9).

The "litmus test" of a genuine banking union would be a rise in eurozone banks merging across borders, Peter Praet said.

The eurozone's banking system "cannot be made up of a collection of standalone national banking systems", he said. Fragmentation of the sector in some eurozone countries had led to