HELSINKI, June 5 (Reuters) - The head of Europe's new banking watchdog wants to harmonise reporting templates to reduce the burden on pan-European banks and help to increase market confidence in them.

Speaking at a conference on regulation and supervision in Helsinki, Daniele Nouy said the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) wanted to eliminate national biases so that banks in different countries can be compared more accurately.

"There will be harmonisation on the quantity, on the quality of reporting. Of course for some countries, some banks, that may mean more," Nouy told reporters at the conference.

"We are trying to make it adequate and not too burdensome."

She said harmonised reporting templates would help create a level playing field by eliminating different reporting standards across European countries and ensure a meaningful set of data without overburdening smaller banks.

In her speech, Nouy highlighted the historic significance of the new centralised banking supervision project, part of a broader push for closer integration in Europe to strengthen the sector and prevent future crises.

"For the first time in the history of the EU, we will have a supervisor with a truly European mandate, and a collective responsibility," she said. "The SSM will take an encompassing view of banks' activities throughout the SSM Member States (and beyond) and remove national bias in supervision."

During a question-and-answer session after her speech she said the plethora of possible national options spelled out in European Union banking regulation rules were "a problem" and would be addressed over time.

"Is it the very first priority: No," Nouy said. "There is some persuasion to be done in some cases.

"After two or three years, maybe five, even that would be better than nothing, there should be sunset clauses, and they then disappear without further discussion."

(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen; Writing by Eva Taylor; Editing by Catherine Evans)

((sakari.suoninen@thomsonreuters.com)(+358 9 6805 0244)(Reuters Messaging: sakari.suoninen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: ECB/BANKS