The vice chairman of an influential European Parliament committee has said it will explore punitive measures – including possible budget cuts – against the region's top markets regulator if it continues to defy lawmakers over reforms to Europe’s trading rulebook.

Markus Ferber, a German Member of the European Parliament, said that the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, known as Econ, is running out of patience with the European Securities and Markets Authority. In an email to Financial News, he had accused it and other European Supervisory Authorities, or ESAs, of "simply not doing what they are supposed to do".