European leaders committed to their goal of establishing a euro-area bank supervisor by year-end, opening the prospect of direct aid to Spain’s banking sector. The EU will seek to agree on a framework that makes the European Central Bank the main supervisor by Jan. 1, according to conclusions released early today after leaders met at a summit in Brussels. The new system, intended to break the link between banks and governments at the root of the region’s financial crisis, will phase in over the next year and could cover all 6,000 euro-area banks by Jan. 1, 2014. The supervisor can “probably be effectively ... (full story)