ECB Press Releases

February 202021 February 2020Market operationsRecasts of legal acts related to the expanded asset purchase programmeOn 3 February 2020 the Governing Council adopted Decision ECB/2020/8 on the implementation of the third covered bond purchase programme (recasting Decision ECB/2014/40) and Decision ECB/2020/9 on a secondary markets public sector asset purchase programme (recasting Decision ECB/2015/10). Given that Decisions ECB/2014/40 and ECB/2015/10 had already been substantially amended...

SpeechKeynote speech by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the 2020 US Monetary Policy ForumNew York, 21 February 2020IntroductionI would like to thank Chicago Booth for inviting me to speak at the 2020 U.S. Monetary Policy Forum, sponsored by the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, New York, New York.[1]The focus of this year’s US Monetary Policy Forum, the analysis of unconventional monetary policies, is relevant for...

PRESS RELEASE20 February 2020ECB profit increased by €0.8 billion to €2.4 billion in 2019 (2018: €1.6 billion) and is distributed in full to national central banksNet interest income on securities held for monetary policy purposes: €1.4 billion (2018: €1.2 billion)ECB’s Balance Sheet grew to €457 billion (2018: €447 billion)The European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) audited financial statements for 2019 show that the profit for the year increased by €790 million, to €2,366 million, mainly as a...

SPEECHRemarks by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, at the European Banking Federation Committee meeting Frankfurt am Main, 20 February 2020It is a pleasure to be here today at the European Banking Federation. I will use this opportunity to provide an overview of the economic situation in the euro area and on the current monetary policy stance.Recent economic developmentsAlthough the expansion has moderated in the recent quarters, euro area growth continues to be supported by the...

of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank held in Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday and Thursday, 22-23 January 2020 1. Review of financial, economic and monetary developments and policy optionsFinancial market developmentsMs Schnabel reviewed the latest financial market developments. The period since the Governing Council’s monetary policy meeting on 11-12 December 2019 had been marked by three major events: the year-end, the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and the signing...

PRESS RELEASE19 February 2020Working group issues recommendations for a seamless transition from EONIA to €STR productsAll stakeholders should be made aware that EONIA-linked contracts with maturities beyond 3 January 2022 entail significant risks Report supplements earlier report of the working group from August 2019 The private sector working group on euro risk-free rates has today published a report on the transfer of liquidity from EONIA’s cash and derivatives products to the €STR. The...

SPEECHIntroductory remarks by Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the European Parliamentary WeekBrussels, 18 February 2020It is an honour for me to speak here today. Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) calls for European and national policies to work in sync, which in turn requires close cooperation between European institutions and you – European and national parliamentarians. From the start, the EMU project has been accompanied by two central debates. The first...

SPEECHKeynote speech by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the Joint European Central Bank, Irving Fisher Committee and Banco de Portugal conference on “Bridging measurement challenges and analytical needs of external statistics: evolution or revolution?”Lisbon, 17 February 2020IntroductionIt is a pleasure to speak at this first edition of the conference on external statistics, which is jointly organised by Banco de Portugal, the Irving Fisher Committee and the...

INTERVIEWInterview with Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Robert Shortt on 13 February 2020 and broadcast (in part) on 13 February 202014 February 2020There has been some criticism of ECB policy when it comes to quantitative easing and negative interest rates. Some people have described it as an experiment in monetary policy. There’s been this assertion that interest rates are no longer an effective tool for stimulating economic activity. People have...

PRESS RELEASE12 February 2020Chart 1Total assets of credit institutions headquartered in the euro area and in the EU(EUR billions)Chart 2Non-performing loans ratio of credit institutions headquartered in the euro area and in the EU(percentages)The European Central Bank (ECB) has published the Consolidated Banking Data (CBD) with reference to end-September 2019, a dataset of the European Union (EU) banking system compiled on a group consolidated basis.The quarterly CBD cover relevant...