Eurozone
Europe/US policy divergence ‘good news’ for monetary system, says top central banker
Spill-overs should not be a factor in monetary policy decisions; precedents for European and US policy to diverge, says top-level European central banker
ECB adviser admits more clarity needed over stress tests
Banks should be given a clearer picture of why their stress test numbers don’t pass muster with the ECB, says Christoph Siebenbrunner of the Austrian National Bank
SMEs benefit from easier European credit standards
Latest ECB bank-lending survey shows credit standards continuing to ease for enterprises in Europe during the first few months of this year; demand for loans widely expected to increase further
Rossi calls on supervisors to ‘build a real single house’
Senior deputy governor at the Bank of Italy stresses the importance of harmonising supervisory practices across the eurozone to ‘exploit the potential’ of the SSM
Varoufakis defends reshaped Greek reform agenda
Greek finance minister says extension bought time for a ‘serious conversation’ with creditors and outlines ways in which he wants reforms to differ from troika prescriptions
ECB research assesses fiscal impact of bailouts
ECB paper analyses the impact on a government’s fiscal position of assistance measures; finds majority of the financial needs (4.9% of 5.1% of GDP) were recorded is first three crisis years
Former ECB banknotes director describes 'arduous path' to Europa launch
Antti Heinonen details the challenges and occasional mishaps in delivering a ‘quantum leap’ in eurozone banknote designs, with the latest new note to be issued later this year
Nouy sets out SSM priorities for 2015
Supervisory board chair Danièle Nouy reveals focus on profitability drivers of largest banks in eurozone, as well as their risk appetite and governance; first annual report published
BoE and ECB strike deal on CCP cooperation
Central banks agree to information exchange and provision of cross-border liquidity in a crisis as the UK government drops two outstanding cases against the ECB
IMF report urges review of euro timeline in Romania
Staff fear convergence could take longer than expected; encourage the transition to a ‘full-fledged’ inflation targeting regime at the central bank
Greek governor paints bleak picture of life without the euro
Yannis Stournaras insists leaving the eurozone is ‘not an option’ for Greece, as it would impose ‘huge costs’ on the financial system and real economy alike
Forward guidance can help QE succeed, Finnish research says
Article in Bank of Finland bulletin considers whether eurozone is at risk of Japanese-style deflation, finding the ECB’s asset purchases reduce the odds of this outcome
Third TLTRO sees extra €98 billion borrowed from ECB
Latest allocation of cheap loans pushes total amount borrowed to €310 billion; measures aimed at repairing transmission mechanism and encouraging loans to real economy
Protestors clash with police as ECB opens new premises
Demonstrations organised to coincide with inauguration of new ECB building lead to outbreaks of violence; Draghi calls for economics and politics of integration to be ‘reconciled’
Draghi wants shared sovereignty over structural reforms
ECB president fleshes out vision for ‘common governance’ of product and labour market reforms in the eurozone; advocates adopting an ‘institution-based approach’ to common governance
Cyprus governor 'will not resign' despite political pressure
Chrystalla Georghadji will continue exercising her duties as governor despite the Cypriot president ordering an investigation into what he perceives as a ‘conflict of interest’
ECB paper models Philips curve from professional forecasts
Working paper finds the curve consistent with professional forecasts has flattened since the financial crisis, with the relationship between inflation and unemployment weakening
ECB’s Mersch tells banks to take advantage of reforms
Banks should tap into the ‘sizeable’ opportunities offered by banking union, ECB executive board member says, which could help them provide more credit to SMEs
Court rules against ECB in CCP case
European court finds ECB does not have authority to regulate securities clearing systems in the EU, upholding a UK plea against rules forcing CCPs to be located in the eurozone
ECB revisits virtual currencies in new report
Research concludes virtual currencies do not pose ‘material risk’ to central bank operations in eurozone, but could if they become more widely used or entwined with the real economy
IMF researchers add eurozone detail to fund’s global projection model
Working paper adds ‘blocks’ for Germany, France, Italy and Spain to the model in an effort to capture the dynamics in the eurozone in greater detail
Draghi defends Greek waiver decision in heated parliament session
ECB president defends bond-waiver decision and dismisses ‘popular mistakes’ over the disbursement of profits, having to raise his voice over heckling from MEPs
Spanish paper finds relationship between number of lawyers and litigation rates
Working paper published by Bank of Spain warns not to read too much into results, but finds they are useful in conducting a ‘preliminary’ evaluation of recent reforms
Carney defends eurozone comments
Parliamentary committee questions appropriateness of BoE governor calling for fiscal union in Europe; Carney admits authorities outside eurozone were keen for him to make the comments