Finance ministers strike market supercop deal despite Brussels’ objections

LUXEMBOURG — EU finance ministers struck a compromise to beef up the bloc’s markets watchdog Friday, but the deal exposed divisions over national control and exemptions that critics say favor the biggest member countries. Most finance ministers backed the Council’s position on MISP, a package of bills to integrate and police financial markets. At its heart is a plan to give the EU’s securities regulator powers to oversee major financial players — a flagship bid to make Europe a stronger investment hub, where European companies can seek investors without traveling to Wall Street. But capitals stopped short of handing the future watchdog too much autonomy, triggering a hard rebuke from the European Commission.