European Central Bank (ECB)
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
Lagarde raises doubts over Greek reform package
Troika institutions give Greek bailout package the go-ahead, but IMF managing director says current reform framework ‘is not conveying clear assurances’ in many areas
Greek debt deal marks start of rough road
Negotiations on Friday ended in a compromise stacked in Germany’s favour; although disaster has been temporarily averted there are more battles to come, and Greece’s funding remains tight
ECB publishes first minutes
European Central Bank releases an ‘account’ of the discussion at the governing council meeting in January, which saw it launch quantitative easing in the eurozone
Estonian governor tells MPs central banks cannot create long-term growth
Ardo Hansson says QE in the eurozone will help to improve confidence, but reforms are necessary for investors to believe the economy will grow
Outgoing Belgian governor takes ECB role
Luc Coene named as one of four ECB representatives on the SSM supervisory board, a role he will start after stepping down as National Bank of Belgium governor next month
Bundesbank says German recovery is faster than expected
Monthly report highlights ‘remarkable’ rebound of German economy, leading forecasts to be revised upwards; oil and euro depreciation behind the boost
Macro-prudential policies can ‘tame’ the financial sector, says ECB's Constâncio
Monetary policy should be used to control the price of goods and services not asset prices; macro-prudential policies can address financial imbalances in spite of dearth of shadow banking tools
Central banks are on the losing side of government pacts
Quantitative easing by the ECB and the Bank of Japan brought market cheer. But, absent meaningful structural reform, is miring central banks deeper into an ever-more dangerous policy cycle.
Reviving the faltering euro economy
There are three options to address Europe’s core problem: real differences in production costs. None of them involve asset purchases by the European Central Bank, writes Allan Meltzer
Book notes: European Spring, by Philippe Legrain
Ambitious and accessible, this book's take on events is provocative and its alternative insights warrant reflection
Greenspan: Eurozone could collapse without political union
Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan says it is ‘very difficult’ to imagine the eurozone remaining intact without political union, while it is ‘just a matter of time’ before Greece departs
Boston Fed’s Rosengren flags key elements of successful QE
Eric Rosengren sets out the most successful design features from the Fed’s experience of quantitative easing and hints ‘other parts of the globe’ may have acted too late
ECB publishes new economic bulletin
The first in the new series, introduced to ‘mirror’ new governing council meeting cycle, features an assessment of the Chinese economic outlook
Weidmann prescribes dose of discipline for eurozone
Bundesbank president says governments must accept liability for their own fiscal actions; sees no ‘urgent need’ for QE and warns of policy side effects
ECB’s collateral move adds pressure to Greek negotiations
Decision to cease accepting some Greek debt as collateral two weeks earlier than necessary turns banks toward ELA and adds pressure to political negotiations
Constâncio: ECB ‘encouraged’ by reaction to QE
ECB vice-president points to rise in price of equities and bonds and drop in the exchange rate, but warns against reading too much into financial and real variables
ECB’s Cœuré calls for tougher rules on structural policy
Executive board member says a ‘strong framework’ is needed to manage the interdependence of fiscal, financial, structural and monetary policies in Europe
ECB warns banks over dividends and bonuses
Danièle Nouy tells banks to take a ‘conservative’ approach to paying out dividends, while ECB announces probe into variable remuneration
Linde says ECB’s stimulus package is ‘ambitious’
Luis Linde, governor of the Bank of Spain, estimates the European Central Bank will buy €100 billion of Spanish government debt under its new asset purchase programme
Leading central bankers unsure about impact of technology on monetary policy
Carney, Kuroda and Coeure debate the elusive Phillips curve in Davos; rejecting ‘technological pessimism', Carney says ‘just catching up is a huge opportunity of growth potential'
Mersch lays out path to capital markets union
ECB executive board member says harmonised regulation and ‘institutional adjustments’ needed in Europe; suggests change in securities markets
Carney says eurozone QE 'absolutely necessary'
Bank of England governor says it will ‘create some of the necessary conditions’ for returning prosperity to the eurozone; discusses distributional consequences of monetary policy
ECB launches quantitative easing
Mario Draghi unveils additional asset purchase programme that will see the ECB buy sovereign and agency debt; a ‘large majority’ of governing council backed decision