The European Parliament (EP) has announced that an EP plenary session held on 21 May 2013 has seen EP members show broad support for a proposal to establish the European Central Bank as the single bank supervisor for the European Union (EU), while reservations were expressed for the following "key concerns":

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has made available EBA Consultation Paper 2013/11 (21 May 2013) (the consultation paper) regarding draft regulatory technical standards (the proposed standards) on defining institutional staff types whose activities have a material impact on an institution's risk profile.

Flower delivery firm Interflora has won its trademark case against retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S). According to The Guardian, the United Kingdom High Court of Justice found that advertisements for M&S flowers displayed alongside online search results for the search inquiry "Interflora" constituted an infringement of the Interflora trademark by M&S.

Consumer Affairs Minister Jo Swinson has convened a meeting with representatives of ten of the United Kingdom's (UK) supermarket firms, asking them to provide explanations for their inconsistent use of unit pricing for food and drink products.

The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it will contact "over 60 leading online businesses to ensure they are transparent with customers about how they collect and use their data". This follows the release of the OFT's Personalised Pricing: Increasing Transparency to Improve Trust (May 2013) report, which shows that many of the surveyed businesses failed to explain to consumers how their information was collected and used, or how they could protect their privacy.

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (the Central Bank) has revoked the licences of two Dubai-based money exchange firms, reports Arabian Business. The Central Bank reportedly stated that Al Hilal Exchange had "major regulatory and anti-money laundering compliance violations", and Asia Exchange Centre had made "major regulatory violations".

The chief executive of a United Kingdom (UK) energy supplier recently fined £10.5 million for misleading potential customers has contrasted the company's conduct to more "deep-rooted problems" in today's banking sector, commenting in an interview with BBC News that "[SSE Energy Supply Ltd (SSE)] did provide the energy ... to [its] customers ... whereas [w]hat were [banks] providing? Was there any value to the customer [in] insurance products that would not pay out?".

Italy's antitrust regulator Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (the Autorità) has fined the nation's largest telecommunications provider Telecom Italia a total of over €103.7 million for abusing its dominant position in respect of the operation of telephone and broadband network infrastructure.

The European Commission (EC) has made available its proposal and associated frequently asked questions (both 8 May 2013) for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) on "the comparability of fees related to payment accounts, payment account switching and access to payment accounts with basic features".

The United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced that SAFC Hitech Ltd (SAFC) has been fined £120,000 after an employee sustained severe burns following a chemical explosion at the company's factory in Wirral in 2012. According to the HSE, an unsealed glass bottle containing waste produced from a trimethylindium (TMI) purification process exploded in the factory's waste deactivation area, engulfing the employee in flames.