ACCOUNTABILITY
18 April 2024
Our feedback on the European Parliament resolution
We have just published our feedback statement responding to the issues and questions raised by the European Parliament in its resolution on our 2022 Annual Report. The topics covered range from the ECB’s monetary policy to climate change and a digital euro.
Read the statement
SPEECH
17 April 2024
The future of inflation (forecast) targeting
Inflation targeting has helped anchor inflation expectations, says Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel. A more extensive use of alternative scenarios, beyond tail events, could make our policy framework more robust and better convey the uncertainty facing policymakers.
Read the speech
THE ECB BLOG
18 April 2024
Data Update: banks and climate change
We updated our data on the impact of climate change on the financial system. How strongly could banks be affected by natural hazards? How green are their loan portfolios? The ECB Blog discusses these and other insights from the improved data.
Read the ECB Blog- 18 April 2024
- BALANCE OF PAYMENTS (MONTHLY)
- 17 April 2024
- PRESS RELEASE
- 16 April 2024
- WEEKLY FINANCIAL STATEMENTEnglishOTHER LANGUAGES (22) +Annexes
- 16 April 2024
- WEEKLY FINANCIAL STATEMENT - COMMENTARY
- 12 April 2024
- GOVERNING COUNCIL DECISIONS - OTHER DECISIONSEnglishOTHER LANGUAGES (23) +
- 12 April 2024
- PRESS RELEASERelated
- 18 April 2024
- Introductory remarks by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, at the ECON Committee of the European ParliamentRelated
- 18 April 2024
- EnglishOTHER LANGUAGES (22) +
- 17 April 2024
- Keynote speech by Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the thirteenth conference organised by the International Research Forum on Monetary Policy, “Monetary Policy Challenges during Uncertain Times”, at the Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.Annexes
- 17 April 2024
- 17 April 2024
- Slides by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at a meeting with the Italian Banking Association
- 15 April 2024
- Speech by Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the University College Dublin Economics Society
- 12 April 2024
- Frank Elderson: “Know thyself” – avoiding policy mistakes in light of the prevailing climate scienceKeynote speech by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the Delphi Economic Forum IX
- 19 March 2024
- Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Michalis Psilos
- 7 February 2024
- Interview with Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Martin Arnold on 2 February 2024
- 3 February 2024
- Interview with Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, conducted by Jonathan Witteman on 29 January 2024
- 31 January 2024
- Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Kolja Rudzio
- 22 January 2024
- Contribution by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, French and German members of parliament and other personalities, published on n-tv.de
- 18 April 2024
- We updated our data on the impact of climate change on the financial system. How green are green bonds and banks’ loan portfolios? How strongly could they be affected by natural hazards? The ECB Blog discusses these and other new insights from the data.Details
- JEL Code
- Q54 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Climate, Natural Disasters, Global Warming
Q56 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Environment and Development, Environment and Trade, Sustainability, Environmental Accounts and Accounting, Environmental Equity, Population Growth
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
G29 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Other
- 3 April 2024
- Governments and central banks can shield the economy from shocks with their decisions. The ECB Blog looks at a recent high-level conference that analysed the interaction of fiscal and monetary policy and questioned some long-held beliefs.Details
- JEL Code
- E40 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→General
E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
E62 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook→Fiscal Policy
- 22 March 2024
- The Eurosystem is shrinking its balance sheet, which makes more government bonds available for purchase. The ECB Blog looks at how markets are adjusting to this new situation with regard to bond price volatility, liquidity and the impact on repo markets.Details
- JEL Code
- G20 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→General
G28 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Government Policy and Regulation
- 14 March 2024
- Central banks have been collecting art for a long time. While the works were previously only accessible at their physical locations, more and more central banks now make their collections available online. The ECB Blog showcases four collections you can enjoy from wherever you are.
- 11 March 2024
- In 2021-22 inflation surged due to the direct and indirect effects of the energy shock, together with a set of pandemic-related factors and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this post on The ECB Blog, Chief Economist Philip R. Lane looks at the monetary policy actions taken by the ECB in response to these extraordinary inflation shocks.Details
- JEL Code
- E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
D81 : Microeconomics→Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty→Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
- 18 April 2024
- STATISTICS PAPER SERIES - No. 48Details
- Abstract
- Climate change entails risks to the global economy and impacts financial stability. Beyond managing related risks, the financial sector can also contribute to the transition toward a net-zero economy. Guided by the ECB’s climate and nature plan, this paper discusses the methodology and key findings of statistical indicators developed in three areas: sustainable finance, carbon emissions, and physical risk. Our work aims to enhance data transparency in climate change analysis, while informing monetary policy, financial stability and banking supervision. The indicators we have developed focus on the euro area financial sector and are built from harmonised granular datasets. They also utilise climate information from public sources to the extent possible.The sustainable finance metrics are built on well-established securities statistics and are at a more mature stage of development when compared with the other two climate risk indicators. While there are several data gaps that need to be addressed, the proposed statistical methodology offers a valuable framework for assessing climate risks in the European context, ensuring comparability across countries, time frames and under various climate scenarios. This paper discusses the methodology, underlying data, and findings for each set of indicators, while also flagging possible constraints and opportunities for future development.
- JEL Code
- Q51 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Valuation of Environmental Effects
Q54 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Climate, Natural Disasters, Global Warming
Q59 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Other
- 18 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATIONEnglishOTHER LANGUAGES (20) +Related
- 18 April 2024
- ANNUAL REPORTEnglishOTHER LANGUAGES (22) +
- 18 April 2024
- ANNUAL REPORTEnglishOTHER LANGUAGES (22) +Related
- 18 April 2024
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 346Details
- Abstract
- A digital euro would provide the general public with an additional means of payment in the form of risk-free central bank money in digital form that is universally accepted for digital payments across the euro area. A digital euro would offer a wide range of financial stability benefits, including safeguarding the role of public money and strengthening the strategic autonomy and monetary sovereignty of the euro area in the digital era. It would be designed to have no material impact on financial stability or the transmission of monetary policy. This paper shows the usefulness of digital euro safeguards, such as holding limits, that would limit the impact of the introduction of a digital euro on banks’ liquidity and on their reliance on central bank funding. To this end, it assesses how banks might respond to the introduction of a digital euro while seeking to maximise profitability and manage their risks for a range of holding limit scenarios. The results of the simulated impact on key liquidity metrics show that, with safeguards in place and on aggregate, the liquidity metrics of euro area banks would decline but remain well above regulatory minimums. In addition, the central bank funding ratios of euro area banks would not increase materially on aggregate and would remain contained overall.
- JEL Code
- E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
- 16 April 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2926Details
- Abstract
- We shed light on the demand for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a means of payment, based on survey payment data. We provide a quantitative framework to assess transactional demand for CBDC at the point of sale, accommodating a wide range of design choices. We develop a structural model of payment means adoption and usage and estimate CBDC demand based on individuals’ preferences for payment method attributes. We disentangle the friction potentially associated to CBDC adoption, assessing two of its potential drivers: information frictions and gradual diffusion of digital payment methods. We find that modelling adoption is key to understanding CBDC demand. Finally, we show that optimal CBDC design, information campaigns, and network effects can substantially boost demand.
- JEL Code
- E41 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Demand for Money
E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
E47 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
- 15 April 2024
- SURVEY OF MONETARY ANALYSTS - AGGREGATE RESULTS
- 15 April 2024
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 345Details
- Abstract
- This paper discusses the impact that a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) could have on the implementation of monetary policy. Monetary policy implementation could be affected if the introduction of the retail CBDC changes the volume of commercial bank deposits held by customers, which would, in turn, affect central bank reserves. While it is often assumed that customer deposits would decrease if a CBDC was introduced, we provide arguments why this is by no means clear cut and deposits could even increase. If bank deposits do decrease, banks would need to draw on, and therefore reduce, their central bank reserve holdings. Moreover, uncertainty as to the timing and extent of any conversions of deposits into CBDC might prompt banks to scale up their demand for central bank reserves in order to hold larger precautionary buffers. Consequently, central banks might need to adjust their reserve supply and other features of their monetary policy implementation, depending, for example, on whether they use a floor or a corridor system for monetary policy implementation. In the specific case of the digital euro, the features already envisaged for its design would make it possible to minimise the risk of negative consequences for monetary policy implementation.
- JEL Code
- E41 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Demand for Money
E42 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Monetary Systems, Standards, Regimes, Government and the Monetary System, Payment Systems
E43 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
- 12 April 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2925Details
- Abstract
- This paper extends Boone (2008) by introducing a competition measure at the individual firm level rather than for an entire market segment. It is based on the elasticity between profits and efficiency and called marginal relative profitability (MRP). Its intuition is that when a small change in efficiency derived from marginal costs can cause a large change in profits, a firm exercises pressure on its peers and gains profits. The MRP is embedded in the theoretical framework of Boone and measures competition vis-à-vis other market participants. We apply this extended Boone indicator to individual bank-level competition in the loan market in the four largest euro area countries and Austria. The MRP distribution is skewed to the left and many banks have a MRP below one, indicating that those banks have little incentive to enhance their efficiency to increase their profits. The MRP approach is shown to be a powerful tool to test the efficient-structure, structure-conduct performance, and ‘quiet life’ hypotheses and to detect comparatively weak non-competitive banks. Our new measure of firm-level competition enriches and complements other competition measures and provides a promising starting point for future market power analyses.
- JEL Code
- D4 : Microeconomics→Market Structure and Pricing
L16 : Industrial Organization→Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance→Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics: Industrial Structure and Structural Change, Industrial Price Indices
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
- 12 April 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2924Details
- Abstract
- Investment funds hold a disproportionately larger fraction of domestic relative to foreign stocks. Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias. The literature neglects however that investors often invest in foreign funds domiciled in financial centers. We use a “look-through approach” to account for this misclassification. First, we find substantially smaller home bias estimates compared to those in the literature. Second, the explanatory power of plausible home bias determinants is lower than previously documented. Third, familiarity only plays a meaningful role when investors are households, highlighting the role of investor sophistication.
- JEL Code
- G11 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Portfolio Choice, Investment Decisions
G15 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→International Financial Markets
G23 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Non-bank Financial Institutions, Financial Instruments, Institutional Investors
- 12 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATIONAnnexes
- 12 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATION
- 12 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATION
Related - 12 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATIONAnnexes
- 12 April 2024
- ANNEX
- 12 April 2024
- SURVEY OF PROFESSIONAL FORECASTERSAnnexes
- 12 April 2024
- ANNEX
Related- 12 April 2024
- PRESS RELEASE
- 12 April 2024
- SURVEY OF PROFESSIONAL FORECASTERSAnnexes
- 12 April 2024
- ANNEX
- 12 April 2024
- ANNEX
- 12 April 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2024Details
- Abstract
- This box summarises the findings of recent contacts between ECB staff and representatives of 57 leading non-financial companies operating in the euro area. According to these exchanges, which took place between 11 and 19 March 2024, aggregate activity was subdued at the start of the year, but there were some signs of a pick-up in demand and expectations of a gradual, albeit modest, recovery in the course of the year. Growth in selling prices picked up slightly in the first months of the year, owing mainly to a slight rebound in the prices of some intermediate goods and services. However, growth in prices closer to the final consumer continued to ease gradually, as did wage expectations.
- JEL Code
- E2 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy
E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
L2 : Industrial Organization→Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- 9 April 2024
- EURO AREA BANK LENDING SURVEYAnnexes
- 9 April 2024
- EURO AREA BANK LENDING SURVEY - ANNEX
Related- 9 April 2024
- PRESS RELEASE
- 8 April 2024
- SURVEY ON THE ACCESS TO FINANCE OF ENTERPRISES IN THE EURO AREAAnnexes
- 8 April 2024
- SAFE QUESTIONNAIRE
Related - 3 April 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2923Details
- Abstract
- How a historic drop in bank deposits shapes banks’ loan supply? We exploit the effects of a large, and unexpected, increase in monetary policy rates to estimate the deposit channel of monetary policy using an extensive credit register that includes all bank-firm lending relationships in all euro area countries. We find that banks experiencing large deposit outflows reduce credit, but not the interest rate they charge, to the same borrower relative to other lenders. This credit restriction is stronger for fixed rate and longer maturity loans, but not for riskier borrowers. The effect is mostly driven by banks coming into the hiking period with a larger unhedged duration gap that renders borrowers of those banks more vulnerable to credit restrictions due to the deposit outflows as interest rates surge. We resort to the deposit beta as an instrument variable and a matched estimator that bear out the thrust of our results.
- JEL Code
- E51 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Money Supply, Credit, Money Multipliers
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
- 3 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATION
- 3 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATION
- 3 April 2024
- OTHER PUBLICATION
Interest rates
| Marginal lending facility | 4.75 % |
| Main refinancing operations (fixed rate) | 4.50 % |
| Deposit facility | 4.00 % |
Inflation rate
Inflation dashboardExchange rates
| USD | US dollar | 1.0638 | |
| JPY | Japanese yen | 164.54 | |
| GBP | Pound sterling | 0.85400 | |
| CHF | Swiss franc | 0.9693 |
Financial stability
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