Drafted as a joint proposal by the Finance Ministry and the ČNB, the measure would give the bank regulatory power over the banking sector, capital markets, financial funds, insurance companies and credit unions — spheres currently overseen by four separate bodies. Proponents say the move to integrate the regulators quickly is necessary to strengthen control of the country's financial markets. Many people working in the economic sector aren't so sure.

Ivana Sedláčková, spokeswoman for the Czech Securities Commission (KCP), said top management at the KCP, which oversees capital markets, believes the proposal submitted in mid-July was prepared without taking into consideration a number of important steps. And, she said, the presidium of the commission questioned why the draft was prepared just two months after the Cabinet approved a more gradual procedure for regulatory integration.

In May, the Cabinet voted in favor of merging the bodies that regulate financial markets — the ČNB, the KCP, the Office for the Supervision of Credit Unions and the Finance Ministry, which oversees insurance and pension insurance companies — into two by the time the country adopts the euro, around 2010. The measure, which is awaiting parliamentary approval, was soon followed by the new proposal.

"The commission is saying that there was absolutely no discussion," Sedláčková said. "When you do something like that, it has a big effect on companies. It just came quickly."

In hopes of generating debate, the KCP published an analysis of four alternative strategies for integration in the second week of August. The analysis recommended establishing a new, wholly independent body separate from the ČNB to oversee part of the financial markets, similar to models in the United States and Britain.

Pavel Mertlík, chief economist at Raiffeisenbank, said he favors an independent regulator separate from the central bank that should have already been created to bring the country up to speed with economies in Europe and North America.

Other analysts question why the government is considering changing the current structure in favor of making the ČNB the sole regulator. Markéta Šichtařová, chief economist at Next Finance, said the multiregulator structure has worked here for the past several years and has proven effective in other economies as well.