The European Parliament has approved the appointment of Francois-Louis Michaud as executive director of the bloc’s banking watchdog, overturning a recommendation to reject him.

Last week, the parliament’s economic affairs committee had narrowly voted in favour of rejecting Michaud, with members saying they wanted to more women appointed to top jobs in the bloc’s regulatory bodies.

However, in a rare move, the bloc’s full parliament endorsed the appointment of Michaud, a senior European Central Bank official, as executive director of the European Banking Authority (EBA) by 343 votes to 296, with 56 abstentions.

Last month, Michaud had told a hearing in the economic affairs committee that he was fully aware of the need for a better gender balance at EBA, and that he was willing to commit to appointing more female staff at the Paris-based agency.

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