Europe
ECB's Wellink sees 2% eurozone growth
Dutch central bank governor Nout Wellink told an audience in Toronto Monday that he was "mildly optimistic" for Europe's future and saw growth in the euro area in the next two years of about 2 per cent.
Towards a Single Euro Payments Area - 4th report
In its fourth progress report on the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), published Friday, the Governing Council of the ECB defined the final SEPA objectives.
Comment: BIS looks east
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Monday announced its intention to "deepen its relationship" with Asian central banks. The most interesting and challenging aspect of the initiative is the proposed "extension of banking services in the…
Report says CB gold sales won't meet quota
HSBC analyst Alan Williamson told Dow Jones on Friday 27 January that European central banks are highly unlikely to sell the total 2,500 tons of gold allowed under the current agreement.
Third Euro-Mediterranean central bank seminar
The third Euro-Mediterranean seminar, which brings together Eurosystem and non-euro area Mediterranean central banks, was jointly organised by the Bank of Greece and the European Central Bank and held in Nafplion on 25 January.
Europe's central bank must show some backbone
According to this article published on Monday 9 January , political pressure could be responsible for the European Central Bank's 'timid' interest rate move last month.
ECB addendum to bond markets report
The European Central Bank published an addendum to the November 2004 report entitled "Bond markets and long-term interest rates in non-euro area Member States of the European Union and in accession countries" (third edition) on Monday 2 January.
ECB's message can get lost in translation
On occasions the European Central Bank's monthly news conferences on interest rates can be as much an exercise in linguistic guesswork as a window on the thinking of the world's number two central bank, according to this article published Wednesday 4…
ECB paper on the new Basel capital framework
The ECB Occasional Paper "The New Basel Capital Framework and its implementation in the European Union" published December 2005 gives an overview of the main issues that relate to the EU implementation, mainly from the perspectives of financial stability…
Constancio says no specific ECB rate rises planned
The European Central Bank has no specific plans for future monetary policy changes, ECB Governing Council member Vitor Constancio of Portugal said on Wednesday 4 January.
ECB paper The timing of central bank communication
This European Central Bank Working Paper explores whether there are systematic patterns as to when members of the decision-making committees of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the ECB communicate with the public, and under what circumstances…
ECB's Quaden says rates supportive
Eurozone interest rates of 2.25 percent are still supportive of economic growth, European Central Bank Governing Council member Guy Quaden told Belgian magazine Tendances Trends on Thursday 29 December.
A question, Mr. Trichet. Why is dad out of work?
This article published on Monday 19 December looks at the education kit for schools "Price stability: Why is it important for you?" which was recently unveiled by the European Central Bank. It is simply not good enough to repeat the mantra of price…
Garganas says ECB will act on rates if needed
The European Central Bank will raise interest rates in the future if December's hike isn't enough to keep inflation subdued, Bank of Greece governor and ECB Governing Council member Nicholas Garganas said Monday 19 December.
Trichet: ECB must act before inflation develops
European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said in an interview the ECB must not wait for inflation to develop before taking action against it.
ECB introduces cartoon kit
Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, launched a new information kit entitled "Price stability: why is it important for you?" on Monday 12 December.
Mersch says ECB ready to act when necessary
The European Central Bank has not determined what or when its next move will be, but would act if it felt the need to raise rates again, ECB Governing Council member Yves Mersch told a German newspaper.
ECB and NCBs release joint statistics
On Tuesday the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of the euro area for the first time released joint tables of euro area statistics and their national breakdowns on their websites.
ECB's Mersch says eurozone tax harmony not needed
Eurozone members aren't obliged to harmonize taxation practices as this isn't part and parcel of European Monetary Union, Luxembourg Central Bank Governor Yves Mersch said on Friday 2 December.
Quaden says eurozone rates now 'appropriate'
Belgian National Bank governor Guy Quaden has called the level of European Central Bank interest rates "appropriate" for the emerging recovery of the eurozone.
ECB's Weber worries over credit growth
The European Central Bank's mid- to long-term strategy is at risk from the pace of credit growth in the euro zone and this danger must be countered, ECB Governing Council member Axel Weber was quoted as saying on Sunday 4 December.
Comment: IMF criticises ECB's move
The decision by the ECB to increase interest rates by 25 basis points has come in for a fair amount of criticism in the press and from market analysts. On Thursday 1 December the eurozone's central bank received another stinging blow.
ECB raises rates, but says no series planned
The European Central Bank raised its main interest rate, for the first time in five years, by 0.25% to 2.25% on Thursday 1 December in a move that had been widely expected.
Document shows plan to shake up EU payments system
The European Union's payments system is set for a wide-ranging overhaul to cut down on the cost of cross-border transactions and save up to 100 billion euros ($117.7 billion), a European Commission document quoted by Reuters showed on Thursday 1 December.