ECB Press Releases

Speech by Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York City, 15 February 2019This year marks the 20th anniversary of the euro’s creation, an event which has triggered much reflection on the single currency’s successes and challenges.[1]Most of this commentary has, rightly, focused on the economic track record of the euro area. The main aim of monetary union was, after all, to maximise the benefits of the EU’s internal market and thereby...

SpeechSpeech by Sabine Lautenschläger, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the 14th Asia-Pacific High-level meeting on Banking Supervision, in Sidney, Australia, 13 February 2019Ladies and gentlemen,It is a pleasure to be here today! And not only because it allows me to escape the cold German winter, but also because this meeting allows us to share views from opposite ends of the world – views from Asia and Australia and views from Europe.The crisis has shown how important it is to...

Press release13 February 2019Chart 1Total assets of credit institutions headquartered in the euro area and EU.(EUR billions)Chart 2Non-performing loans ratio of credit institutions headquartered in the euro area and EU.(percentage)The European Central Bank (ECB) has published the Consolidated Banking Data (CBD) with reference to end-September 2018, a data set of the European Union (EU) banking system compiled on a group consolidated basis.The quarterly CBD cover relevant information required...

Remarks by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, at Deusto Business School, Madrid, 11 February 2019Recent economic developmentsEuro area data have been weaker than expected in recent months. In fact, industrial production growth fell in the second half of 2018 and the decline was widespread across sectors and most major economies. Business investment weakened. On the external side, euro area trade disappointed, with noticeable declines in net exports. As a result, economic growth...

Interview with Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Pierre Briançon on 5 February 2019 and published on 7 February 2019Why did the European Central Bank both warn against increased risks for the eurozone economy and choose to do nothing at its last meeting?At this stage, we don’t think that we have enough elements to conclude that we’re facing a lasting and serious slowdown of the eurozone economy. That said, we have a duty of transparency, we have to...

Speech by Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the American European Community Association, Brussels, 7 February 2019New technologies are transforming the entire economy, our daily lives and also the way we pay. Digitalisation is a strong driver of innovation in retail payments and can help to deliver customer-friendly solutions. In a parallel development, people now tend to expect that services – and payments – should be delivered instantly. At the ECB, we are very much...

Speech by Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at Lamfalussy Lectures Conference of Lamfalussy Award at Central Bank of Hungary, Budapest, 4 February 2019John von Neumann, the Hungarian-born mathematician, once said: “there’s no sense in being precise when you don’t even know what you’re talking about”. I saw Alexandre Lamfalussy in many different roles over the course of 30 years, and I always admired his capacity to be extremely precise because he was professionally...

Interview mit Sabine Lautenschläger, Mitglied des Direktoriums der EZB und stellvertretende Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsgremiums der EZB, geführt von Mariela Milkowa am 29. Januar 2019 und veröffentlicht am 1. Februar 2019Frau Lautenschläger, der Streit um den Brexit beschäftigt uns ja seit Wochen und Monaten und jetzt ist immer noch unklar, wie es Ende März weitergehen wird. Die Briten wollen jetzt dann doch noch mal nachverhandeln in der Irlandfrage. Die Europäische Union hat schon gesagt,...

Interview with Sabine Lautenschläger, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, conducted by Mariela Milkowa on 29 January 2019 and broadcast on 1 February 2019Ms Lautenschläger, the Brexit dispute has been in the news for weeks and months now but we still don't know what will happen after the end of March. The British now want to reopen negotiations on the Irish issue but the European Union has already said that it was not...

Speech by Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the International Capital Markets Association’s European Repo and Collateral Council, Luxembourg, 31 January 2019IntroductionThis year, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the euro, the single currency of 19 EU countries and over 340 million Europeans.But the euro is not only important for European citizens and businesses; it also has a global role. In fact, it is the second most used...