FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A top European Central Bank official says the European Union should move ahead quickly with a new banking supervisor to deal with its shaky financial system.

Benoit Coeure, who sits on the bank’s six-member executive board, said in a speech Monday that adopting a new watchdog role for the ECB is “the most urgent component” of bringing bank supervision and bailouts under the control of the EU. Coeure added that it needed to be in place “as early as possible in 2013.”