Decisions taken by the Governing Council of the ECB (in addition to decisions setting interest rates)
July 202419 July 2024External communication
Progress report on
the digital euro project
On 24 June 2024 the ECB published its
first progress report on the digital euro preparation phase, which
outlines the progress made on key digital euro design aspects and the
envisaged next steps, concluding that the project is on track in terms
of both budget and timing. As a follow-up to the report, on 12 July
2024 the Governing Council took note of the status of the ECB’s
recruitment of staff for the digital euro project. Market
operations
Changes to the publication of monetary policy
portfolio data under the asset purchase programme (APP)
On 20
June 2024 the Governing Council, in the light of the discontinuation
of reinvestments under the APP as of July 2023 and the resulting
reduction in APP portfolios, approved changes to the publication of
APP-related data. More specifically, the expected monthly redemption
amounts for the APP will be published annually rather than monthly,
while the rolling period has been extended from 12 to 24 months, with
the first publication scheduled for 3 September 2024. For the three
private sector programmes under the APP (the corporate sector purchase
programme, the asset-backed securities purchase programme and the
third covered bond purchase programme), the monthly breakdown of the
share of cumulative primary and secondary market purchases will be
discontinued and the breakdown of holdings by sector, rating and
country of risk will be published annually instead of semi-annually,
while the eligible universe data for each series will be removed.
Disclosure of ECB documents on swap agreements in the context
of a public access request
On 5 July 2024 the Governing Council
authorised, in the context of a request for public access to ECB
documents, the disclosure of excerpts of ECB documents related to swap
agreements entered into by the ECB between 2003 and 2013, given that
none of the exceptions laid down in Decision ECB/2004/3 on public
access to European Central Bank documents apply. The relevant excerpts
are accessible via the ECB Public Register of Documents.
Amendments to the Decision on the remuneration of holdings of
excess reserves and of certain deposits
On 16 July 2024 the
Governing Council adopted Decision ECB/2024/19 amending Decision (EU)
2019/1743 on the remuneration of holdings of excess reserves and of
certain deposits (ECB/2019/31). The amendments legally implement the
policy changes approved by the Governing Council following the
conclusion of a comprehensive review of the remuneration of non-
monetary policy deposits.
Climate change collateral pool
concentration limits
On 17 July 2024 the Governing Council
decided not to proceed with the implementation of climate change
collateral pool concentration limits, given that the necessary
technical preconditions had not been fulfilled. It also mandated the
development of alternative approaches to further integrate climate
change considerations in the Eurosystem collateral framework. In the
ECB’s July 2022 press release on the incorporation of climate change
considerations into its monetary policy operations, it was announced
that climate change collateral pool concentration limits were expected
to apply before the end of 2024, provided that the necessary technical
preconditions were in place. The Governing Council expects to report
on the status of the work on alternative approaches in due course.
Macroprudential policy and financial stability
Governing
Council statement on macroprudential policy
On 27 June 2024 the
Governing Council approved a statement, subsequently published on the
ECB’s website, following a meeting of the Macroprudential Forum on 19
June 2024. The statement highlights the need to maintain current
macroprudential measures to preserve financial stability, while
supporting planned increases in capital buffers to address
vulnerabilities and potential shocks amidst a challenging macro-
financial environment. Market infrastructure and
payments
Participants in wave 2 of the ECB’s exploratory work
on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement
services
On 21 June 2024 the Governing Council approved the
list of market participants and market distributed ledger technology
(DLT) operators that will participate in a second wave of trials and
experiments, starting in July 2024, looking into how wholesale
financial transactions recorded on DLT platforms could be settled in
central bank money. This decision follows a first wave of testing in
the context of the ECB’s exploratory work on new technologies for
wholesale central bank money settlement, as part of broader efforts to
ensure that developments in central bank money keep pace with and
contribute to digital innovation in wholesale and retail payments, and
that central bank money remains a monetary anchor which supports the
stability, integration and efficiency of the European financial system
and payments system.
Draft Regulatory Technical Standards
(RTS) on threat-led penetration testing
On 26 June 2024 the
Governing Council decided that the draft RTS on threat-led penetration
testing (TLPT) prepared in accordance with Article 26(11) of
Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the
financial sector (DORA) were also in accordance with the European
Framework for Threat Intelligence-based Ethical Red Teaming (TIBER-
EU), and gave its approval for the ECB to express its agreement with
the draft RTS. DORA tasks the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs)
with preparing the RTS “in agreement with the ECB”, and “in accordance
with TIBER-EU”. The ESAs will submit the final draft RTS to the
European Commission for adoption. Following their adoption in the form
of a Commission Delegated Regulation, the RTS will be subject to the
scrutiny of the European Parliament and the Council before ahead of
their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
TARGET2-Securities (T2S) financial statements
On 4 July
2024 the Governing Council approved the publication of the T2S
financial statements for 2023 and took note of the related external
audit opinion. The publication of these statements fulfils an
obligation under the T2S Framework Agreement and is intended to inform
T2S customers and stakeholders, as well as the general public, about
the financial situation of T2S. The documents are available on the
ECB’s website.
Status of the action plan to address 2020
TARGET Services incidents
On 4 July 2024 the Governing Council
took note of the latest implementation status of the action plan to
address the findings and recommendations of an independent review
following TARGET Services incidents in 2020. Key market stakeholders
were directly informed of the progress made in the context of their
regular meetings with the ECB.
Eurosystem policy on access to
central bank-operated payment systems by non-bank payment service
providers (PSPs)
On 17 July 2024 the Governing Council approved
the Eurosystem’s policy on granting non-bank PSPs access to TARGET
Services and to retail payment systems operated by euro area national
central banks in view of Regulation (EU) 2024/886. The policy defines
a harmonised stance as regards access to central bank accounts by non-
bank PSPs and will be published on the ECB’s website shortly, with the
ECB legal acts to follow in due course. Advice on
legislation
ECB Opinion on a proposal for a regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council as regards certain reporting
requirements in the fields of financial services and investment
support
On 21 June 2024 the Governing Council adopted Opinion
CON/2024/21 prepared on the ECB’s own initiative.
ECB Opinion
on access to cash
On 27 June 2024 the Governing Council adopted
Opinion CON/2024/22 at the request of the Irish Minister for Finance.
ECB Opinion on the potential appointment of the Governor or a
Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank as a caretaker prime
minister
On 5 July 2024 the Governing Council adopted Opinion
CON/2024/23 at the request of Българска народна банка (Bulgarian
National Bank), acting on behalf of the Bulgarian Minister for
Finance.
ECB Opinion on national cybersecurity
On 9
July 2024 the Governing Council adopted Opinion CON/2024/24 at the
request of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania.
ECB Opinion on the introduction of a reporting obligation in
respect of mortgage-related data
On 15 July 2024 the Governing
Council adopted Opinion CON/2024/25 at the request of the Dutch
Minister for Finance. Corporate governance
ECB Recommendation
to the Council of the European Union on the external auditors of the
Central Bank of Cyprus
On 2 July 2024 the Governing Council
adopted Recommendation ECB/2024/16 to the Council of the European
Union on the external auditors of the Central Bank of Cyprus.
ECB Decision amending the Rules of Procedure of the European
Central Bank
On 3 July 2024 the Governing Council adopted
Decision ECB/2024/18 amending Decision ECB/2004/2 adopting the Rules
of Procedure of the European Central Bank. The amendments aim, inter
alia, to increase efficiency and flexibility in the functioning of the
ECB’s decision-making bodies whilst reflecting technological changes
and taking stock of 10 years of functioning of the SSM. The Decision
will be published shortly in the Official Journal of the European
Union. Statistics
Recast of the ECB Regulation on investment
fund statistics
On 27 June 2024 the Governing Council adopted
Regulation ECB/2024/17 concerning statistics on investment funds and
repealing Decision (EU) 2015/32 (ECB/2014/62) and approved a feedback
statement to the public consultation on the draft recast regulation
summarising the responses received and the changes subsequently made
which was published on the ECB’s website. The adopted Regulation
introduces new reporting requirements that allow enhanced analysis of
developments in the investment fund sector in the euro area.
International and European cooperation
Approval of the Single
Resolution Board (SRB) request to use Centralised Submission Platform
services
On 20 June 2024 the Governing Council approved an SRB
request to use the ECB’s Centralised Submission Platform for data
collection. On the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding between
the SRB and ECB in respect of cooperation and information exchange of
22 December 2015, the SRB uses certain IT Services provided by the
ECB. ECB Banking supervision
Memorandum of Understanding
between the European Central Bank and the Banking Regulation and
Supervision Agency of Türkiye
On 1 July 2024 the Governing
Council did not object to a proposal by the Supervisory Board to
approve a Memorandum of Understanding between the European Central
Bank and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Türkiye. In
accordance with standard practice, the Memorandum of Understanding,
following its signature by both parties, will be published on the
ECB’s banking supervision website.