Europe took a big step on Dec 13, when European Union finance ministers, meeting in Brussels, agreed to put major banks in the euro currency zone under the supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB). The move will allow a euro-zone firewall fund to provide direct bailouts to banks, breaking the so-called doom loop in which national governments' debt ratings are dragged down when they try to aid troubled lenders. But, as so often happens in Europe, politics trumped speed. The new arrangement won't be in place before Mar 2014. Under the agreement, 150 to 200 of the currency zone's biggest banks would come under direct ECB regulation by 2014, and smaller banks could be brought in later.