June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyd’s of London, the world’s biggest insurance market, said the U.K. must defend its authority to regulate financial companies as the European Union plans an international regulatory overhaul.

“In the U.K., we’ve been well in the lead in Europe and we’re not going to throw that away,” Chairman Peter Levene said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television. In Europe, “we should have a regulator who is an overseer to make sure everyone is pulling to a general policy. But let the details of regulation in each country of Europe be worked out as they suit that market.”

EU member countries backed a plan this week to unify oversight of financial firms after national supervision failed to contain the crisis sparked in the U.S. housing market. The U.K. won a compromise to scale back the power to make decisions involving national money.

“Different countries operate in different ways,” Levene said. “You need harmonious regulation. But you need to have it adapted to local requirements.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net; Erik Schatzker in New York at eschatzker@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 24, 2009 09:26 EDT