European Central Bank (ECB)
ECB and Macedonian central bank complete co-operation programme
ECB's Jörg Asmussen says in Skopje that a strong EU has to be based on strong national institutions; report finds Macedonian central bank ‘equal or close to EU standards in many areas'
IMF's Lagarde supports negative rates in eurozone
IMF Article IV for the eurozone backs Draghi promise to keep rates low and says negative rates would support demand and ward off deflation; ECB chief concerned that financial transactions tax will hurt monetary policy efficacy
ECB researchers find evidence for ‘bank liquidity risk channel' for monetary policy
Non-standard policy at the ECB and the Fed has lowered bank funding volatility and increased the supply of loans, acting as an additional channel of monetary policy transmission
Cœuré says banking union vital to avoid a ‘lost decade' in Europe
Europe must act to break the sovereign-bank nexus and deal with zombie banks if it is to avoid a Japan-style decade of stagnant growth; backs ECB monetary policy to work toward this objective
Euro bank lending conditions were ‘softened’ ahead of crisis, ECB paper shows
Authors also found evidence of excessive risk-taking for mortgages loans
Eurozone’s unique policy framework creates communication confusion, ECB paper shows
Political communication has a quantifiable effect on sovereign bond spreads – at least in the short term, authors argue
ECB commits to keep interest rates down
Governing council says interest rate will remain at or below 0.5% for an ‘extended period of time’ despite previously refusing to pre-commit monetary policy
ECB paper aims to quantify effect of ‘inertia' in reserve currency use
Researchers say dollar's position as the dominant reserve currency is not insurmountable - but force of habit plays a significant role
Croatian membership boosts ECB capital
Croatia’s central bank has joined the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), with governor Boris Vujčić taking his place on the ECB’s general council
ECB paper considers how to conduct monetary policy without interest rates
Occasional paper studies development of Islamic finance in Europe, including the difficulties inherent in setting monetary policy given that sharia bans interest rates
Draghi calls for closer eurozone union ‘in all fields of economic policy'
Eurozone members need to sort out external imbalances and unemployment as well as acting together to secure banking union
Central bank statistics departments facing multiple strains, says ECB’s Schubert
Meeting new monetary, micro-prudential and macro-prudential data requirements is a major burden for central bank statistics departments, says ECB statistics head Aurel Schubert
Cœuré says ECB will not tighten ‘in near future’
ECB executive board member Benoît Cœuré says the prospect of tighter monetary policy in the eurozone remains distant; calls recent bout of market volatility ‘excessive’
ECB’s Asmussen urges greater efforts at global policy co-ordination
Executive board member says globalisation has led to greater interconnectedness and many more sources of risk, but institutions have not kept pace with the demanding environment
ECB paper proposes model for assessing European sovereign and bank spillovers
Working paper uses VAR model to quantify interdependencies between bank and sovereign CDS spreads
QE1 and QE2 operated in opposite directions, ECB researchers find
Researchers at the European Central Bank find that QE1 triggered a portfolio rebalancing out of EMEs into US equity and bonds, while QE2 acted in the opposite direction
ECB research dissects European competitiveness
Working paper separates competitiveness into political and factor price-driven elements; uses new index to show divergent outcomes across Europe
Draghi says ECB has not compromised its ‘ordoliberal' principles
ECB president tells Stanley Fischer farewell conference that the ECB's LTRO and OMT operations are 'controlled' and 'necessary for the pursuit of price stability'
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Rebalancing the fraught relationship between governments and central banks
The growing politicisation of central banking involves central bankers needing to make difficult judgement calls on the areas that lie outside of their competence
Carney's Bank of England should seek closer ties with ECB, says MEP Bowles
Sharon Bowles will raise issue of European co-operation at her first meeting with Mark Carney - saying it is even more of a priority now Paul Tucker is leaving
ECB’s Asmussen details 'comprehensive assessment' of European banks
The European Banking Authority will conduct stress tests in second quarter of 2014, after initial ECB asset quality review and balance sheet assessment
Bowles: Give ECB its ‘smoke and mirrors'
ECB's chief inquisitor says central banks must retain 'a certain amount of mystery' to keep fiat monetary systems going; interaction between ECB's monetary and supervisory arms will be 'difficult'
ECB is capable of negative rates - but consequences are uncertain
ECB executive board member Yves Mersch says dangers include financial innovations to ‘emulate currency and allow tax avoidance' if deposit rates are moved below zero
ECB’s LTROs had ‘favourable effect’ on sovereign yields
Dutch working paper evaluates the impact of the ECB’s unconventional monetary policy; says LTRO had beneficial short-term effect on government borrowing in most distressed eurozone countries