Germany
Fabius backs ECB independence on monetary policy
FRANCE - The European Central Bank must and does set monetary policy independently, French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said on 20 May, adding that he believed the bank was not indifferent to the downturn in global economic growth.
Inflation still main concern of ECB
GERMANY - European Central Bank council member Vitor Constancio said on 10 May that inflation still remained the bank's main concern.
Supereconomies face clashes
EUROPE - Central bank politics is assuming an intriguing role in attempted reversal of the slowdown of the US economy and spreading effects on other parts of the world.
Making EMU Work: Some Lessons from the 1990s
ARTICLE - Jorg Bibow lectures at the University of Hamburg on central banking and European integration. This working paper investigates the lessons learned from Europe's convergence process of the 1990s.
Germany cuts growth forecast
GERMANY - The German government has joined its European neighbours by slashing its growth forecasts. Economic expansion in Europe's largest economy is expected to be only 2% in 2001, 0.75% less than previously forecast.
US is wrong to browbeat the ECB into cutting rates
GERMANY - America is wrong to try to browbeat the European Central Bank into cutting interest rates "I hear but I do not listen," remains the response of Wim Duisenberg, president of the European Central Bank, to the clamour for lower interest rates.
Euro rates held steady
EUROPE - The European Central Bank has decided to leave interest rates unchanged after a scheduled board meeting in Frankfurt on Apr 26.
IMF's Koehler says he didn't intend to pressure EC
GERMANY - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler said he had never intended to put pressure on the European Central Bank to cut rates, but reiterated that a cut would help world and European growth.
Inflation fears lower rate cut hopes
EUROPE - Prospects for an early reduction in interest rates by the European Central Bank receded further yesterday as higher than expected German inflation figures were announced.
Ageing and financial stability
ARTICLE - Population ageing might involve major shifts in financing, which may give rise to financial turbulence and systemic risk. Philip Davis, professor of economics at Brunel University, has prepared a paper on this subject for a Bundesbank…
Eichel sets out vision for financial regulation
GERMANY - The German finance ministry unveiled on Apr 11 draft legislation to shake up the structure of the country's central bank and supervisory agencies in response to the arrival of the euro and changes in financial markets.
ECB cannot stop stocks from falling-Buba's Welteke
EUROPE- The European Central Bank can do nothing to counter plunging stock prices, Bundesbank president Ernst Welteke said in an interview with the German radio station Deutschlandfunk.
Financial competition, risk and accountability
BOOK - A new book has just been published by Palgrave "Financial Competition, Risk and Accountability: British and German Experiences" edited by Frowen and McHugh. Recent decades have seen a sharp increase in financial competition and excessive risk…
ECB's Liebscher calls for c.bank supervisory role
SPEECH - ECB council member Klaus Liebscher called for Europe's national central banks to continue to play a key role in banking supervision, saying their close contact with commercial banks helped to prevent crises.
ECB plans statement on banking supervision - paper
The European Central Bank plans to issue an official warning to governments not to curb the role of central banks in banking supervision, a German newspaper reported on Mar 14, 2001.
Gemany's Hans Eichel's shock to the system-article
The decision of Hans Eichel, the German finance minister, to establish a unifiedfinancial services regulator came as a surprise to many, and a bitter shock to theBundesbank, which had lobbied to take over bank supervision itself. KlausEngelen reports.
Berlin cbank president opposes ECB rate cut-paper
The European Central Bank shouldn't move to cut interest rates before euro-zone inflation reaches 2.2%, Landeszentralbank president Klaus-Dieter Kuehbacher said in an interview.
ECB official attacks German bank supervisor revamp
European Central Bank Directorate Member Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was reported on Mar 4, 2001 as reiterating the ECB's objections to German government plans to strip the Bundesbank of its banking watchdog duties.
ECB says output of euro banknotes is on schedule
The European Central Bank insisted that production of euro banknotes is on schedule, rejecting a newspaper report that said printing problems could leave European nations short for the introduction of the notes on Jan. 1, 2002.
ECB looking to move Frankfurt headquarters
The European Central Bank, not even three years old, has already outgrown its headquarters and plans to construct a building outside the city's high-rise banking district by around 2006.
Buba 2000 profit at around DM 16bn - magazine
Germany's Bundesbank is expected to post a profit of around 16 billion marks ($7.42 billion) for 2000, Der Spiegel magazine said on Feb 23, 2001.
Buba Remsperger - German growth seen slower in '01
Economic growth in Germany in 2001 will be slower on average than in 2000, Deutsche Bundesbank Chief Economist Hermann Remsperger said Feb 23, 2001 in an interview with German news agency VWD.
Bundesbank joins Frankfurt regulator to slow Basel
Germany's central bank and banking regulator are joining forces in an effort to slow consideration of the new Basel Capital Accord, or Basel II, which aims to modernize the way banks globally account for risk.
Buba-German economy grew 0.25 pct q/q in Q4 2000
The Bundesbank said on Feb 21, 2001 the German economy grew at a reduced pace in the final months of 2000, expanding by a seasonally adjusted 0.25 percent in real terms from the third quarter.