European Central Bank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see ECB.
European Central Bank
Logo of the European Central Bank European Central Bank headquarters (Eurotower)
Logo of the European Central Bank European Central Bank headquarters (Eurotower)
Headquarters Frankfurt, Germany
Coordinates 50°06′34″N 8°40′26″E / 50.1095°N 8.6740°E / 50.1095; 8.6740
Established 1 June 1998
President Mario Draghi
Central bank of
Currency Euro
ISO 4217 Code EUR
Reserves
Bank rate 0.25%[1]
Interest on reserves 0%
Website www.ecb.europa.eu
Preceded by

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for the euro and administers the monetary policy of the Eurozone, which consists of 18 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the world's most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states.[dated info] The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2013 the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy. The bank is based in Frankfurt and its location in the city is fixed by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The bank currently occupies the Eurotower while new headquarters are built. The owners and shareholders of the European Central Bank are the central banks of the 28 member states of the EU.

The primary objective of the European Central Bank, as mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB,[2] is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone. The basic tasks, as defined in Article 3 of the Statute,[2] are to define and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone, to conduct foreign exchange operations, to take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks and operation of the financial market infrastructure under the TARGET2 payments system and the technical platform (currently being developed) for settlement of securities in Europe (TARGET2 Securities). The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute,[2] the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand (upon the introduction of the euro, the ECB also had exclusive right to issue coins).[citation needed]

The ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Its capital is five billion euro held by the national central banks of the member states as shareholders.[citation needed] The initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the states' population and GDP, but the key is adjustable.[citation needed] Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral.

History[edit]

Further information: History of the euro
Wim Duisenberg, first President of the ECB.

The European Central Bank is the de facto successor of the European Monetary Institute (EMI).[3] The EMI was established at the start of the second stage of the EU's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to handle the transitional issues of states adopting the euro and prepare for the creation of the ECB and European System of Central Banks (ESCB).[3] The EMI itself took over from the earlier European Monetary Co-operation Fund (EMCF).[4]

The ECB formally replaced the EMI on 1 June 1998 by virtue of the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Treaty of Maastricht), however it did not exercise its full powers until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, signalling the third stage of EMU.[3] The bank was the final institution needed for EMU, as outlined by the EMU reports of Pierre Werner and President Jacques Delors. It was established on 1 June 1998.[5]

The first President of the Bank was Wim Duisenberg, the former president of the Dutch central bank and the European Monetary Institute.[5] While Duisenberg had been the head of the EMI (taking over from Alexandre Lamfalussy of Belgium) just before the ECB came into existence,[5] the French government wanted Jean-Claude Trichet, former head of the French central bank, to be the ECB's first president.[5]

The French argued that since the ECB was to be located in Germany, its president should be French. This was opposed by the German, Dutch and Belgian governments who saw Duisenberg as a guarantor of a strong euro.[6] Tensions were abated by a gentleman's agreement in which Duisenberg would stand down before the end of his mandate, to be replaced by Trichet, which occurred in November 2003.[7]

Mario Draghi, the current President of the ECB.

There had also been tension over the ECB's Executive Board, with the United Kingdom demanding a seat even though it had not joined the Single Currency.[6] Under pressure from France, three seats were assigned to the largest members, France, Germany, and Italy; Spain also demanded and obtained a seat. Despite such a system of appointment the board asserted its independence early on in resisting calls for interest rates and future candidates to it.[6]

When the ECB was created, it covered a Eurozone of eleven members. Since then, Greece joined in January 2001, Slovenia in January 2007, Cyprus and Malta in January 2008, Slovakia in January 2009, Estonia in January 2011 and Latvia in January 2014, enlarging the bank's scope and the membership of its Governing Council.[4]

On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, ECB according to the article 13 of TEU, gained official status of an EU institution.

In 2011, when German appointee to the Governing Council and Executive board, Jürgen Stark, resigned in protest of the ECB's bond buying programme, Financial Times Deutschland called it "the end of the ECB as we know it" referring to its perceived "hawkish" stance on inflation and its historical Bundesbank influence.[8]

In April 2011, the ECB raised interest rates for the first time since 2008 from 1% to 1.25%,[9] with a further increase to 1.50% in July 2011.[10] However, in 2012–2013 ECB sharply lowered interest rates to encourage economic growth, reaching the historically low 0.25% in November 2013.[1]

Powers and objectives[edit]

Objective[edit]

Euro banknotes.

The primary objective of the European Central Bank, as laid down in Article 127(1)[11] of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone. The Governing Council in October 1998[12] defined price stability as inflation of around 2%, “a year-on-year increase in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the euro area of below 2%” and added that price stability ”was to be maintained over the medium term”. (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices)[13] Unlike for example the United States Federal Reserve Bank, the ECB has only one primary objective but this objective has never been defined in statutory law, and the HICP target can be termed ad-hoc.

The Governing Council confirmed this definition in May 2003 following a thorough evaluation of the ECB's monetary policy strategy. On that occasion, the Governing Council clarified that “in the pursuit of price stability, it aims to maintain inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term”.[12] All lending to credit institutions must be collateralised as required by Article 18 of the Statute of the ESCB.[14] The Governing Council clarification has little force in law.

Without prejudice to the objective of price stability, the Treaty also states that "the ESCB shall support the general economic policies in the Union with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Union."[15]

Basic tasks[edit]

The basic tasks of the ECB are to define and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone, to conduct foreign exchange operations, to take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks and to promote smooth operation of the financial market infrastructure under the TARGET2 payments system[16] and being currently developed technical platform for settlement of securities in Europe (TARGET2 Securities).

Further tasks, among others, include the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand (upon the introduction of the euro, the ECB also had exclusive right to issue coins).[16] The ECB shall also collect statistical information to fulfil the tasks of the European System of Central Banks, and contribute to financial stability and supervision.

Considerations on ECB's monetary policy[edit]

In US style central banking, liquidity is furnished to the economy primarily through the purchase of Treasury bonds by the Federal Reserve System. The Eurosystem uses a different method. There are about 1500 eligible banks which may bid for short term repo contracts of two weeks to three months duration.[17]

The banks in effect borrow cash and must pay it back; the short durations allow interest rates to be adjusted continually. When the repo notes come due the participating banks bid again. An increase in the quantity of notes offered at auction allows an increase in liquidity in the economy. A decrease has the contrary effect. The contracts are carried on the asset side of the European Central Bank's balance sheet and the resulting deposits in member banks are carried as a liability. In layman terms, the liability of the central bank is money, and an increase in deposits in member banks, carried as a liability by the central bank, means that more money has been put into the economy.[18]

To qualify for participation in the auctions, banks must be able to offer proof of appropriate collateral in the form of loans to other entities. These can be the public debt of member states, but a fairly wide range of private banking securities are also accepted.[19] The fairly stringent membership requirements for the European Union, especially with regard to sovereign debt as a percentage of each member state's gross domestic product, are designed to insure that assets offered to the bank as collateral are, at least in theory, all equally good, and all equally protected from the risk of inflation.[19]

Organization[edit]

The ECB has three decision-making bodies, that take all the decisions with the objective of fulfilling the ECB's mandate:

  • the Executive Board,
  • the Governing Council, and
  • the General Council.

Decision-making bodies of the ECB[edit]

The Executive Board[edit]

Jean-Claude Trichet, the second President of the European Central Bank.

The Executive Board is responsible for the implementation of monetary policy (defined by the Governing Council) and the day-to-day running of the bank.[20] It can issue decisions to national central banks and may also exercise powers delegated to it by the Governing Council.[20] It is composed of the President of the Bank (currently Mario Draghi), the Vice-President (currently Vitor Constâncio) and four other members.[20] They are all appointed for non-renewable terms of eight years.[20] They are appointed "from among persons of recognised standing and professional experience in monetary or banking matters by common accord of the governments of the Member States at the level of Heads of State or Government, on a recommendation from the Council, after it has consulted the European Parliament and the Governing Council of the ECB".[21] The Executive Board normally meets every Tuesday.

José Manuel González-Páramo, a Spanish member of the Executive Board since June 2004, was due to leave the board in early June 2012 and no replacement had been named as of late May 2012.[22] The Spanish had nominated Barcelona-born Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña, an ECB veteran who heads its legal department, as González-Páramo's replacement as early as January 2012 but alternatives from Luxembourg, Finland, and Slovenia were put forward and no decision made by May.[23] After a long political battle, Luxembourg's Yves Mersch, was appointed as González-Páramo's replacement.[24]

The Governing Council[edit]

The Governing Council is the main decision-making body of the Eurosystem.[25] It comprises the members of the Executive Board (6 in total) and the governors of the National Central Banks of the euro area countries (18 as of 2014). The fact that the Council's minutes are not published has raised controversy in some financial circles.

Members of the Governing Council (as of January 2014)[26]
Mario Draghi, President of the ECB Vítor Constâncio, Vice-President of the ECB Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB
Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB Sabine Lautenschläger, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB Peter Praet, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB (Chief Economist of the ECB)
Luc Coene (Belgium) Jens Weidmann (Germany) Patrick Honohan (Ireland)
George Provopoulos (Greece) Luis María Linde (Spain) Ardo Hansson (Estonia)
Christian Noyer (France) Ignazio Visco (Italy) Panicos O. Demetriades (Cyprus)
Gaston Reinesch (Luxembourg) Josef Bonnici (Malta) Klaas Knot (Netherlands)
Ewald Nowotny (Austria) Carlos Costa (Portugal) Boštjan Jazbec (Slovenia)
Jozef Makúch (Slovakia) Erkki Liikanen (Finland) Ilmārs Rimšēvičs (Latvia)

The General Council[edit]

The General Council is a body dealing with transitional issues of euro adoption, for example, fixing the exchange rates of currencies being replaced by the euro (continuing the tasks of the former EMI).[20] It will continue to exist until all EU member states adopt the euro, at which point it will be dissolved.[20] It is composed of the President and vice-president together with the governors of all of the EU's national central banks.[27][28]

Shareholders[edit]

Although the ECB is governed by European law directly and thus not by corporate law applying to private law companies, its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Its capital is five billion euros[29] which is held by the national central banks of the member states as shareholders. The initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the states' population and GDP,[30] but the key is adjustable.[31] Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral.[32]

European Union
Flag of the European Union

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government
of the European Union
Parliament
European Council
Council
Commission
Court of Justice
Central Bank
Court of Auditors
Other bodies
Policies and issues
Foreign relations
Elections
Law

All National Central Banks (NCBs) that own a share of the ECB capital stock as of 1 January 2011 are listed below. Non-Euro area NCBs are required to pay up only a very small percentage of their subscribed capital, which accounts for the different magnitudes of Euro area and Non-Euro area total paid-up capital.[33]

NCB Capital Key (%) Paid-up Capital (€)
Nationale Bank van België / Banque Nationale de Belgique 2.4778 268,222,025.17
Deutsche Bundesbank 17.9973 1,948,208,997.34
Eesti Pank 0.1928 20,870,613.63
Central Bank of Ireland 1.1607 125,645,857.06
Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος (Bank of Greece) 2.0332 220,094,043.74
Banco de España 8.8409 957,028,050.02
Banque de France 14.1792 1,534,899,402.41
Banca d'Italia 12.3108 1,332,644,970.33
Kεντρική Τράπεζα Κύπρου / Kıbrıs Merkez Bankası
(Central Bank of Cyprus)		 0.1513 16,378,235.70
Latvijas Banka 0.2821 30,537,344.94
Banque centrale du Luxembourg 0.2030 21,974,764.35
Bank Ċentrali ta' Malta 0.0648 7,014,604.58
De Nederlandsche Bank 4.0035 433,379,158.03
Österreichische Nationalbank 1.9631 212,505,713.78
Banco de Portugal 1.7434 188,723,173.25
Banka Slovenije 0.3455 37,400,399.43
Národná banka Slovenska 0.7725 83,623,179.61
Suomen Pankki – Finlands Bank 1.2564 136,005,388.82
Total 69.9783 7,575,155,922.19
Non-Euro area:
Българска народна банка (Bulgarian National Bank) 0.8590 3,487,005.40
Česká národní banka 1.6075 6,525,449.57
Danmarks Nationalbank 1.4873 6,037,512.38
Hrvatska Narodna Banka 0.6023 2,444,963.16
Lietuvos bankas 0.4132 1,677,334.85
Magyar Nemzeti Bank 1.3798 5,601,129.28
Narodowy Bank Polski 5.1230 20,796,191.71
Banca Naţională a României 2.6024 10,564,124.40
Sveriges Riksbank 2.2729 9,226,559.46
Bank of England 13.6743 55,509,147.81
Total 30.0217 121,869,418.02

Independence[edit]

Political independence[edit]

The independence of the ECB is instrumental in maintaining price stability. Not only must the bank not seek influence, but EU institutions and national governments are bound by the treaties to respect the ECB's independence. To offer some accountability, the ECB is bound to publish reports on its activities and has to address its annual report to the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Council.[34] The European Parliament also gets to question and then issue its opinion on candidates to the executive board.[35]

The governors of national central banks represented in the Governing Council of the ECB are appointed by their national executives, and can be reappointed. In spite of the fact that voting inside the ECB is secret, there is some evidence pointing in the direction of Governing Council members voting along national lines.[36][37]

Financial independence[edit]

The ECB's financial independence means that the ECB has its own budget. Its capital is subscribed and paid up by the euro area central banks.[38]

Other provisions[edit]

The Eurosystem is functionally, i.e. operationally, independent.

Governors of national central banks (NCBs) and members of the executive board of the ECB have security of tenure:[38]

  • NCB governors have a minimum term of office of five years.
  • Members of the Executive Board have a non-renewable term of office of eight years.
  • Their removal from office can only be in the event of incapacity or grave misconduct.

European sovereign debt crisis[edit]

A protest going on right in front of the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in July 2012.
Main article: European sovereign debt crisis

From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among fiscally conservative investors concerning some European states, with the situation becoming particularly tense in early 2010.[39][40] This included euro zone members Greece,[41] Ireland and Portugal and also some EU countries outside the area.[42] Iceland, the country which experienced the largest crisis in 2008 when its entire international banking system collapsed has emerged less affected by the sovereign debt crisis as the government refused to bail the banks out, and has begun to prosecute those involved in the collapse.[43]

In the EU, especially in countries where sovereign debts have increased sharply due to bank bailouts, a crisis of confidence has emerged with the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most importantly Germany.[44][45] To be included in the eurozone, the countries had to fulfill certain convergence criteria, but the meaningfulness of such criteria were diminished by the fact they have not been applied to different countries with the same strictness.[46]

Causes[edit]

The principal monetary policy tool of the European central bank is collateralised borrowing or repo agreements.[47] These tools are also used by the United States Federal Reserve Bank, but the Fed does more direct purchasing of financial assets than its European counterpart.[48] The collateral used by the ECB is typically high quality public and private sector debt.[47]

The criteria for determining "high quality" for public debt have been preconditions for membership in the European Union: total debt must not be too large in relation to gross domestic product, for example, and deficits in any given year must not become too large.[49] Though these criteria are fairly simple, a number of accounting techniques may hide the underlying reality of fiscal solvency—or the lack of same.[49]

In central banking, the privileged status of the central bank is that it can make as much money as it deems needed.[50] In the United States Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Reserve buys assets: typically, bonds issued by the Federal government.[50] There is no limit on the bonds that it can buy and one of the tools at its disposal in a financial crisis is take such extraordinary measures as the purchase of large amounts of assets such as commercial paper.[50] The purpose of such operations is to ensure that adequate liquidity is available for functioning of the financial system.[50]

Regulatory reliance on credit ratings[edit]

Think-tanks such as the World Pensions Council have also argued that European legislators have pushed somewhat dogmatically for the adoption of the Basel II recommendations, adopted in 2005, transposed in European Union law through the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), effective since 2008. In essence, they forced European banks, and, more importantly, the European Central Bank itself e.g. when gauging the solvency of financial institutions, to rely more than ever on standardised assessments of credit risk marketed by two non-European private agencies: Moody's and S&P.

Response to the crisis[edit]

There are a variety of possible responses to the problem of bad debts in a banking system. One is to induce debtors to make a greater effort to make good on their debt.[47] With public debt this usually means getting governments to maintain debt payments while cutting back on other forms of expenditure.[47] Such policies often involve cutting back on popular social programs.[51]

Stringent policies with regard to social expenditures and employment in the state sector have led to riots and political protests in Greece.[52] Another response is to shift losses from the central bank to private investors who are asked to "share the pain" of partial defaults that take the form of rescheduling debt payments.[47]

However, if the debt rescheduling causes losses on loans held by European banks, it weakens the private banking system, which then puts pressure on the central bank to come to the aid of those banks. Private-sector bond holders are an integral part of the public and private banking system. Another possible response is for wealthy member countries to guarantee or purchase the debt of countries that have defaulted or are likely to default.[47] This alternative requires that the tax revenues and credit of the wealthy member countries be used to refinance the previous borrowing of the weaker member countries, and is politically controversial.[53]

Reluctance in Germany to take on the burden of financing or guaranteeing the debts of weaker countries has led to public reports that some elites in Germany would prefer to see Greece, Portugal, and even Italy leave the Euro zone "temporarily."[54] Until recently, Greek Euro zone exit was rejected by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.[55] The German government's current position is, to keep Greece within the euro zone, but not at any cost. If the worst comes to the worst, priority will be given to the euro's stability.[56]

Bond purchase[edit]

ECB Securities Markets Program (SMP) covering bond purchases since May 2010

In contrast to the Fed, the ECB normally does not buy bonds outright.[57] The normal procedure used by the ECB for manipulating the money supply has been via the so-called refinancing facilities. In these facilities, bonds are not purchased but used in reverse transactions: repos, or collateralised loans. These two transactions are similar, i.e. bonds are used as collaterals for loans, the difference being of legal nature. In the repos the ownership of the collateral changes to the ECB until the loan is repaid.

This changed with the recent sovereign-debt crisis. The ECB always could, and through the late summer of 2011 did, purchase bonds issued by the weaker states even though it assumes, in doing so, the risk of a deteriorating balance sheet. ECB buying focused primarily on Spanish and Italian debt.[58] Certain techniques can minimise the impact. Purchases of Italian bonds by the central bank, for example, were intended to dampen international speculation and strengthen portfolios in the private sector and also the central bank.[59]

The assumption is that speculative activity will decrease over time and the value of the assets increase. Such a move is similar to what the US federal reserve did in buying subprime mortgages in the crisis of 2008, except in the European crisis, the purchases are of member state debt. The risk of such a move is that it could diminish the value of the currency.[49]

On the other hand, certain financial techniques can reduce the impact of such purchases on the currency.[49] One is sterilisation, in which highly valued assets are sold at the same time that the weaker assets are purchased, which keeps the money supply neutral.[49] Another technique is simply to accept the bad assets as long-term collateral (as opposed to short-term repo swaps) to be held until their market value stabilises. This would imply, as a quid pro quo, adjustments in taxation and expenditure in the economies of the weaker states to improve the perceived value of the assets.[49]

When the ECB buys bonds from other creditors such as European banks, the ECB does not disclose the transaction prices. Creditors profit of bargains with bonds sold at prices that exceed market's quotes.

As of 18 June 2012, ECB in total had spent €212.1bn (equal to 2.2% of the Eurozone GDP) for bond purchases covering outright debt, as part of its SMP running since May 2010.[60] On 6 September 2012, the ECB announced a new plan for buying bonds from eurozone countries.[61] The duration of the previous SMP was temporary,[62] while the new outright monetary transactions (OMT) programme has no ex-ante time or size limit.[63]

Long-term refinancing operation[edit]

Though the ECB's main refinancing operations (MRO) are from repo auctions with a (bi)weekly maturity and monthly maturation, the ECB now conducts long-term refinancing operations (LTROs), maturing after three months, six months, 12 months and 36 months.

In 2003, refinancing via LTROs amounted to 45 bln euros—about 20% of overall liquidity provided by the ECB.[64]

The ECB's first supplementary longer-term refinancing operation (LTRO) with a six-month maturity was announced March 2008.[65] Previously the longest tender offered was three months. It announced two 3-month and one 6-month full allotment of Long Term Refinancing Operations (LTROs). The first tender was settled 3 April, and was more than four times oversubscribed. The €25 billion auction drew bids amounting to €103.1 billion, from 177 banks. Another six-month tender was allotted on 9 July, again to the amount of €25 billion.[65]

The first 12-month LTRO in June 2009 had close to 1100 bidders.[66]

On 21 December 2011 the bank instituted a programme of making low-interest loans with a term of three years (36 months) and 1% interest to European banks accepting loans from the portfolio of the banks as collateral. Loans totalling €489.2 bn (US$640 bn) were announced. The loans were not offered to European states, but government securities issued by European states would be acceptable collateral as would mortgage-backed securities and other commercial paper that can be demonstrated to be secure. The programme was announced on 8 December 2011 but observers were surprised by the volume of the loans made when it was implemented.[67][68][69] Under its LTRO it loaned €489bn to 523 banks for an exceptionally long period of three years at a rate of just one percent.[70] The by far biggest amount of €325bn was tapped by banks in Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain.[71] This way the ECB tried to make sure that banks have enough cash to pay off €200bn of their own maturing debts in the first three months of 2012, and at the same time keep operating and loaning to businesses so that a credit crunch does not choke off economic growth. It also hoped that banks would use some of the money to buy government bonds, effectively easing the debt crisis.[72]

On 29 February 2012, the ECB held a second 36-month auction, LTRO2, providing eurozone banks with further €529.5 billion in low-interest loans.[73] This second long term refinancing operation auction saw 800 banks take part. This can be compared with the 523 banks that took part in the first auction on 21 December 2011.[74] Net new borrowing under the February auction was around €313 billion – out of a total of €256bn existing ECB lending €215bn was rolled into LTRO2.[74]

Foreign exchange operations[edit]

On 22 September 2000, the ECB, together with the monetary authorities of the US, Japan, the UK and Canada, initiated concerted intervention in the foreign exchange markets; the ECB intervened again in early November 2000.[75]

Powers and objectives during the European banking crisis[edit]

The economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 has revealed some relative weaknesses in the sovereign debt of such member countries as Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain.[76] These securities are not limited to the countries of issue, but held in many cases by banks in other member states.[19] To the extent that the banks authorised to borrow from the ECB have compromised collateral, their ability to borrow from the ECB—and thus the liquidity of the economic system—is impaired.[19]

This threat has drawn the ECB into rescue operations.[19] But weak sovereign debt is not the only source of weakness in the ECB's operations, as the collapse of the market in US dollar denominated collateralized debt obligations has also led to large scale interventions in cooperation with the Federal Reserve.[19]

Rescue operations involving sovereign debt have included temporarily moving bad or weak assets off the balance sheets of the weak member banks into the balance sheets of the European Central Bank.[77] Such action is viewed as monetisation and can be seen as an inflationary threat, whereby the strong member countries of the ECB shoulder the burden of monetary expansion (and potential inflation) to save the weak member countries.[77] Most central banks prefer to move weak assets off their balance sheets with some kind of agreement as to how the debt will continue to be serviced.[77] This preference has typically led the ECB to argue that the weaker member countries must:

  • Allocate considerable national income to servicing debts.[77]
  • Scale back a wide range of national expenditures (such as education, infrastructure, and welfare transfer payments) to make their payments.[77]
ECB balance sheet
ECB deposit facility
Current accounts at the ECB

The European Central Bank had stepped up the buying of member nations debt.[78] In response to the crisis of 2010, some proposals have surfaced for a collective European bond issue that would allow the central bank to purchase a European version of US Treasury bills.[79][80] To make European sovereign debt assets more similar to a US Treasury, a collective guarantee of the member states' solvency would be necessary.[81] But the German government has resisted this proposal, and other analyses indicate that "the sickness of the euro" is due to the linkage between sovereign debt and failing national banking systems. If the European central bank were to deal directly with failing banking systems sovereign debt would not look as leveraged relative to national income in the financially weaker member states.[80]

On 17 December 2010, the ECB announced that it was going to double its capitalisation.[82] (The ECB's most recent balance sheet before the announcement listed capital and reserves at €2.03 trillion.)[83] The 16 central banks of the member states would transfer assets to the ledger of the ECB.

In 2011, the European member states may need to raise as much as US$2 trillion in debt.[82] Some of this will be new debt and some will be previous debt that is "rolled over" as older loans reach maturity. In either case, the ability to raise this money depends on the confidence of investors in the European financial system.[83] The ability of the European Union to guarantee its members' sovereign debt obligations have direct implications for the core assets of the banking system that support the Euro.[82]

The bank must also co-operate within the EU and internationally with third bodies and entities. Finally, it contributes to maintaining a stable financial system and monitoring the banking sector.[84] The latter can be seen, for example, in the bank's intervention during the subprime mortgage crisis when it loaned billions of euros to banks to stabilise the financial system.[85] In December 2007, the ECB decided in conjunction with the Federal Reserve System under a program called Term auction facility to improve dollar liquidity in the eurozone and to stabilise the money market.[86]

In late May 2012, looking ahead to further challenges with Greece, Bundesbank chief and ECB council member Jens Weidmann pointed out that the council could veto "emergency liquidity assistance" (ELA) to, for instance, Greece through a two–third majority of the council. If Greece chose to default on its debts yet wanted to stay in the Euro, the ELA would be one of the ways to accommodate the country's and its banks' liquidity needs or, alternatively, to precipitate departure.[22]

On 31 October 2012, ECB announced it has phased out one of the crisis measures aimed at supporting the shaky banking system of the 17-country eurozone.[87]

European financial stability facility[edit]

Main article: European Financial Stability Facility

On 9 May 2010, the 27 member states of the European Union agreed to incorporate the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).[88] The EFSF's mandate is to safeguard financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to Eurozone Member States.[88]

The EFSF is authorised to use the following instruments linked to appropriate conditionality:

  • To provide loans to countries in financial difficulties (e.g. Greek bailout).[88]
  • To intervene in the primary and secondary debt markets. Intervention in the secondary debt market will be only on the basis of an ECB analysis recognising the existence of exceptional financial market circumstances and risks to financial stability.[88]
  • Act on the basis of a precautionary programme.[88]
  • Finance recapitalisations of financial institutions through loans to governments[88]

The EFSF is backed by guarantee commitments from the Eurozone member states for a total of €780bn and has a lending capacity of €440bn.[88] In 2011, it was assigned the best possible credit rating (AAA by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, Aaa by Moody’s)[88]

Location[edit]

Main article: European Central Bank Headquarters
Model of the ECB's new headquarters, which is due to be completed in 2014.

The bank is based in Frankfurt, the largest financial centre in the Eurozone. Its location in the city is fixed by the Amsterdam Treaty along with other major institutions.[89] In the city, the bank currently occupies Frankfurt's Eurotower until its purpose-built headquarters are built.[90]

In 1999 an international architectural competition was launched by the bank to design a new building.[91] It was won by a Vienna-based architectural office named Coop Himmelbau.[91] The building will be approximately 180 metres (591 ft) tall (the present building is 148 m or 486 ft high) and will be accompanied with other secondary buildings on a landscaped site on the site of the former wholesale market in the eastern part of Frankfurt am Main. The main construction began in October 2008, with completion scheduled during 2014.[91][92] It is expected that the building will become an architectural symbol for Europe and is designed to accommodate double the number of staff who operate in the Eurotower.[90]

See also[edit]

Book icon

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "ECB cuts benchmark rate to 0.25%". BBC News. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013. 
  2. ^ a b c Statute of the ECB
  3. ^ a b c "ECB: Economic and Monetary Union". ECB. Retrieved 15 October 2007. 
  4. ^ a b "European Central Bank". CVCE. Retrieved 18 February 2014. 
  5. ^ a b c d "ECB: Economic and Monetary Union". Ecb.int. Retrieved 26 June 2011. 
  6. ^ a b c "The third stage of Economic and Monetary Union". CVCE. Retrieved 18 February 2014. 
  7. ^ "The powerful European Central Bank [E C B] in the heart of Frankfurt/Main – Germany – The Europower in Mainhattan – Enjoy the glances of euro and europe....03/2010....travel round the world....:)". UggBoy♥UggGirl [PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL]. Flickr. 6 March 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  8. ^ Proissl, von Wolfgang, "Das Ende der EZB, wie wir sie kannten", Kommentar, Financial Times Deutschland, 9 September 2011.
  9. ^ "ECB Raises Interest Rates – MarketWatch". marketwatch.com. 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011. 
  10. ^ "ECB: Key interest rates". 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
  11. ^ wikisource consolidation
  12. ^ a b THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK HISTORY, ROLE AND FUNCTIONS BY HANSPETER K. SCHELLER SECOND REVISED EDITION 2006, ISBN 92-899-0022-9 (print) ISBN 92-899-0027-X (online) page 81 at the pdf online version
  13. ^ "Powers and responsibilities of the European Central Bank". European Central Bank. Retrieved 10 March 2009. 
  14. ^ THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK HISTORY, ROLE AND FUNCTIONS BY HANSPETER K. SCHELLER SECOND REVISED EDITION 2006, ISBN 92-899-0022-9 (print) ISBN 92-899-0027-X (online) page 87 at the pdf online version
  15. ^ ECB: Monetary Policy
  16. ^ a b Fairlamb, David; Rossant, John (12 February 2003). "The powers of the European Central Bank". BBC News. Retrieved 16 October 2007. 
  17. ^ In practice, 400–500 banks participate regularly.
    Samuel Cheun; Isabel von Köppen-Mertes and Benedict Weller (December 2009), The collateral frameworks of the Eurosystem, the Federal Reserve System and the Bank of England and the financial market turmoil, ECB, retrieved 24 August 2011 
  18. ^ The process is similar, though on a grand scale, to an individual who every month charges $10,000 on his or her credit card, pays it off every month, but also withdraws (and pays off) an additional $10,000 each succeeding month for transaction purposes. Such a person is operating "net borrowed" on a continual basis, and even though the borrowing from the credit card is short term, the effect is a stable increase in the money supply. If the person borrows less, less money circulates in the economy. If he or she borrows more, the money supply increases. An individual's ability to borrow from his or her credit card company is determined by the credit card company: it reflects the company's overall judgment of its ability to lend to all borrowers, and also its appraisal of the financial condition of that one particular borrower. The ability of member banks to borrow from the central bank is fundamentally similar.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Bertaut, Carol C. (2002). "The European Central Bank and the Eurosystem". New England Economic Review (2nd quarter): 25–28. 
  20. ^ a b c d e f "ECB: Governing Council". ECB. ecb.int. 1 January 2002. Retrieved 28 October 2011. 
  21. ^ Article 11.2 of the ESCB Statute
  22. ^ a b Marsh, David, "Cameron irritates as euro’s High Noon approaches", MarketWatch, 28 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  23. ^ Tag: José Manuel González-Páramo, Financial Times Money Supply blog entries, 18–23 January 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  24. ^ "Mersch Named to ECB After Longest Euro Appointment Battle"
  25. ^ ECB: Decision-making bodies
  26. ^ "Members of the Governing Council". Retrieved 1 January 2014. 
  27. ^ "Composition of the European Central Bank". CVCE. Retrieved 18 February 2014. 
  28. ^ "The General Council". ecb.europa.int. Retrieved 15 October 2007. 
  29. ^ Article 28.1 of the ESCB Statute
  30. ^ Article 29 of the ESCB Statute
  31. ^ Article 28.5 of the ESCB Statute
  32. ^ Article 28.4 of the ESCB Statute
  33. ^ "Capital Subscription". European Central Bank. Retrieved 1 January 2014. 
  34. ^ "Accountability". European Central Bank. Retrieved 15 October 2007. 
  35. ^ "Executive Board" (PDF). Banque de France. 2005. Retrieved 23 July 2012. 
  36. ^ Friedrich Heinemann and Felix Huefner (2004) 'Is the view from the Eurotower purely European? National divergence and ECB interest rate policy', Scottish Journal of Political Economy 51(4):544-558.
  37. ^ Jose Ramon Cancelo, Diego Varela and Jose Manuel Sanchez-Santos (2011) 'Interest rate setting at the ECB: Individual preferences and collective decision making', Journal of Policy Modeling 33(6): 804-820. DOI.
  38. ^ a b "Independence". European Central Bank. Retrieved 1 December 2012. 
  39. ^ George Matlock (16 February 2010). "Peripheral euro zone government bond spreads widen". Reuters. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
  40. ^ "Acropolis now". The Economist. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2011. 
  41. ^ Brian Blackstone, Tom Lauricella, and Neil Shah (5 February 2010). "Global Markets Shudder: Doubts About U.S. Economy and a Debt Crunch in Europe Jolt Hopes for a Recovery". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 May 2010. 
  42. ^ Bruce Walker (9 April 2010). "Greek Debt Crisis Worsens". The New American. Retrieved 28 April 2010. 
  43. ^ "Former Iceland Leader Tried Over Financial Crisis of 2008", The New York Times, 5 March 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  44. ^ "Greek/German bond yield spread more than 1,000 bps". Financialmirror.com. 28 April 2010. 
  45. ^ "Gilt yields rise amid UK debt concerns". Financial Times. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2011. 
  46. ^ "The politics of the Maastricht convergence criteria | vox – Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists". Voxeu.org. 15 April 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
  47. ^ a b c d e f "All about the European debt crisis: In SIMPLE terms". rediff business. rediff.com. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011. 
  48. ^ "Open Market Operation – Fedpoints – Federal Reserve Bank of New York". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. newyorkfed.org. August 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011. 
  49. ^ a b c d e f "WOrking paper 2011 / 1 A Comprehensive approach to the EUro-area debt crisis" (PDF). Zsolt Darvas. Corvinus University of Budapest. February 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011. 
  50. ^ a b c d Ben S. Bernanke (1 December 2008). "Federal Reserve Policies in the Financial Crisis" (Speech). Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin, Texas: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Retrieved 23 October 2011. "To ensure that adequate liquidity is available, consistent with the central bank's traditional role as the liquidity provider of last resort, the Federal Reserve has taken a number of extraordinary steps." 
  51. ^ Cohen, Sabrina (14 August 2011). "Italian Unions Criticize Austerity Plan". Wall Street Journal. 
  52. ^ CNN Wire Staff (28 June 2011). "Greek austerity protests turn ugly as strike begins". 
  53. ^ Castle, Stephen (15 July 2011). "Euro Zone Seeks Deal on Greece". New York Times. 
  54. ^ Ewing, Jack; Alderman, Liz (10 August 2011). "Some in Germany Want Greece to Temporarily Exit the Euro Zone". New York Times. 
  55. ^ Walker, Marcus; Bisserbe, Noemie (14 September 2011). "Merkel Lessens Fears Over Greece: German Leader Rejects Suggestions Athens Be Allowed to Default or Leave Currency Bloc, Reassuring Nervous Markets". Wall Street Journal. 
  56. ^ "Regierung Online 'Stabiler Euro geht vor'", 03/11/11.
  57. ^ Bagus, The Tragedy of the Euro, 2010, p.75.
  58. ^ McManus, John; O'Brien, Dan (5 August 2011). "Market rout as Berlin rejects call for more EU action". Irish Times. 
  59. ^ Walker, Marcus; Paletta, Damian; Blacksone, Brian (13 August 2011). "Global Crisis of Confidence World Policy Makers' Inability to Agree on Fixes Led Markets on Wild Ride". Wall Street Journal. 
  60. ^ "The ECB’s Securities Market Program (SMP) – about to restart bond purchases?" (PDF). Global Markets Research – International Economics. Commonwealth Bank. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2013. 
  61. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/business/global/european-central-bank-leaves-interest-rates-unchanged-at-0-75-percent.html?pagewanted=all
  62. ^ European Central Bank Decision of the ECB of 14 May 2010.
  63. ^ ECB press conference, 6 September 2012.
  64. ^ "THE LONGER TERM REFINANCING OPERATIONS OF THE ECB". May 2004. 
  65. ^ a b "ECB offers longer-term finance via six-month LTROs". May 2008. 
  66. ^ "Markets live transcript 29 February 2012". February 2012. 
  67. ^ Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, Vítor Constâncio, Vice-President of the ECB (8 December 2011). "Introductory statement to the press conference (with Q&A)" (Press conference). Frankfurt am Main: European Central Bank. Retrieved 22 December 2011. 
  68. ^ Nelson D. Schwartz; David Jolly (21 December 2011). "European Bank in Strong Move to Loosen Credit". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2011. "the move, by the European Central Bank, could be a turning point in the Continent's debt crisis" 
  69. ^ Floyd Norris (21 December 2011). "A Central Bank Doing What It Should" (Analysis). The New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2011. 
  70. ^ "ECB Lends 489 Billion Euros for 3 Years, Exceeding Forecast". Business Week. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012. 
  71. ^ "Eurozone crisis live: ECB to launch massive cash injection". The Guardian. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012. 
  72. ^ Ewing, Jack; Jolly, David (21 December 2011). "Banks in the euro zone must raise more than 200bn euros in the first three months of 2012". New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2011. 
  73. ^ "Eurozone crisis live: ECB to launch massive cash injection". Guardian. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012. 
  74. ^ a b "€529 billion LTRO 2 tapped by record 800 banks". Euromoney. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012. 
  75. ^ THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK HISTORY, ROLE AND FUNCTIONS BY HANSPETER K. SCHELLER SECOND REVISED EDITION 2006, ISBN 92-899-0022-9 (print) ISBN 92-899-0027-X (online), page 92 at the pdf online version
  76. ^ Minder, Raphel (24 November 2010). "Fears Mount Over Spain and Risks to the Euro". New York Times. Retrieved 24 November 2010. 
  77. ^ a b c d e Buite, Willem (7 September 2010). "Greece and the fiscal crisis in the EMU". NBER. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
  78. ^ "Euro zone bonds rally after ECB debt buying". Irish Times. 2 December 2010. 
  79. ^ Walker, Marcus (17 December 2010). "Closer Fiscal Union: A Collective Guarantee". Wall Street Journal. 
  80. ^ a b Nixon, Simon (7 December 2010). "A Way Around European Bonds". Wall Street Journal. 
  81. ^ The European dilemma may be imagined as follows. In the US, if tax collections from California are weak, the total federal debt is financed through tax collections in other states, through federal taxes. California may default on its state debt, but the federal government bypasses California in directly taxing California citizens to finance the federal debt. There is only one legal authority taxing, paying for, and backing the federal debt. Federal expenditures are determined by the federal government. Therefore California cannot leverage more money out of the federal system other than by means of the normal constitutional procedures in the House and Senate. If the federal government transfers additional money to California it is because of federal policy, not because California's state debt is threatening the backing of the US dollar. Consider this hypothetical: If the US federal reserve carried state debts on its balance sheets the system would be more similar to the ECB. If California stated to default on its debt a hole would appear on the Fed's balance sheets where it carried California bonds. To make good this loss, the Fed would have to raise capital from the more solvent states, giving rise to the political issue that California's "lack of responsibility" was forcing other states to jump in and save California's public debt. This, one might worry, could turn into a license to California to ignore fiscal restraints and in effect transfer money from the "more responsible states" to the "least responsible states." Even though California's state finances are faltering in 2010, this is not an issue for the Federal Reserve, because of the federal system of taxation and unified backing of the federal debt. In Europe, the ECB could push for greater political and fiscal integration, which would make the member states more explicitly responsible for backing each other's debts and potentially lead to greater political integration. Speculative attacks on the sovereign debt that backs the euro have in effect revealed the weaknesses in the EU's political and fiscal structure.
  82. ^ a b c Walker, Marcus & Forelle, Charles (17 December 2010). "Bailout Deal Fails to Quell EU rifts". Wall Street Journal. 
  83. ^ a b "Aggregated balance sheet of euro area monetary financial institutions, excluding the Eurosystem". ECB.int. 
  84. ^ "The European Central Bank (ECB)". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 16 October 2007. 
  85. ^ Lander, Mark (14 August 2007). "Credit Squeeze Puts Europe's Bank in Spotlight". New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2007. 
  86. ^ "ECB press release on dollar liquidity". ECB. 
  87. ^ "ECB Phases Out Bond-Market Crisis Measure". The New York Times. 
  88. ^ a b c d e f g h "About EFSF". Europa (web portal). 9 May 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2011. 
  89. ^ "Consolidated versions of the treaty on European Union and of the treaty establishing the European Community" (PDF). Eur-lex. Retrieved 12 June 2007. 
  90. ^ a b Dougherty, Carter. "In ECB future, a new home to reflect all of Europe". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2 August 2007. 
  91. ^ a b c "Winning design by Coop Himmelb(l)au for the ECB's new headquarters in Frankfurt/Main". European Central Bank. Archived from the original on 24 September 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2007. 
  92. ^ "Launch of a public tender for a general contractor to construct the new ECB premises". European Central Bank. Retrieved 2 August 2007. 

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to European Central Bank.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_Central_Bank&oldid=598644865"