Eurosystem
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TheEurosystemis themonetary authorityof theeurozone,the collective ofEuropean Union member statesthat have adopted the euro as their sole official currency. TheEuropean Central Bank(ECB) has, under Article 16 of its Statute,[1]the exclusive right to authorise the issuance ofeuro banknotes.Member states can issueeuro coins,but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand.
The Eurosystem consists of the ECB and the national central banks (NCB) of the 20 member states that are part of the eurozone. The national central banks apply the monetary policy of the ECB.[2]The primary objective of the Eurosystem isprice stability.[3]Secondary objectives are financial stability and financial integration.[4]The mission statement of the Eurosystem says that the ECB and the national central banks jointly contribute to achieving the objectives.[5]
The Eurosystem is independent. When performing Eurosystem-related tasks, neither the ECB, nor an NCB, nor any member of their decision-making bodies may seek or take instructions from any external body. The Community institutions and bodies and the governments of the member states may not seek to influence the members of the decision-making bodies of the ECB or of the NCBs in the performance of their tasks.
The Eurosystem is distinct from theEuropean System of Central Banks(ESCB), which comprises the ECB and the central banks of all 27 European Union member states, including those that are not part of the eurozone.
Functions
[edit]In accordance with the treaty establishing theEuropean Communityand the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of theEuropean Central Bank,the primary objective of the Eurosystem is to maintain price stability. Without prejudice to this objective, the Eurosystem supports the general economic policies in the Community and acts in accordance with the principles of an open market economy.
The basic tasks carried out by the Eurosystem are (art. 127 TFEU):
- to define and implement the commonmonetary policyof the eurozone
- to conductforeign exchangeoperations
- to hold and manage the officialforeign reservesof the euro zone Member States, and
- to promote the smooth operation of payment systems.
In addition, the Eurosystem contributes to the smooth conduct of policies pursued by the competent authorities relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions and the stability of thefinancial system.
The ECB has an advisory role vis-à-vis the Community and national authorities on matters within its field of competence, particularly where Community or national legislation is concerned. The ECB, assisted by the NCBs, has the task of collecting the necessary statistical information either from the competent national authorities or directly from economic agents to enable the ESCB to perform its tasks.
Members
[edit]![]() | This section needs to beupdated.(September 2023) |
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Consolidated balance sheet of the Eurosystem
[edit]Assets | Liabilities | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
(EUR millions) | 31 December
2023 |
31 December
2022 |
(EUR millions) | 31 December
2023 |
31 December
2022 |
1Goldand gold receivables[b] | 649,110 | 592,898 | 1Banknotesin circulation | 1,567,711 | 1,572,033 |
2Claimson non-euro area residents denominated inforeign currency[c] | 499,583 | 523,240 | 2Liabilitiesto euro area credit institutions related to monetary policy operations denominated in euro | 3,508,865 | 3,998,940 |
3 Claims on euro area residents denominated in foreign currency[d] | 13,876 | 20,417 | 3 Other liabilities to euro area credit institutions denominated in euro | 58,873 | 78,335 |
4 Claims on non-euro area residents denominated ineuro[e] | 20,097 | 14,224 | 4Debtcertificates issued | 0 | 0 |
5Lendingtoeuro areacredit institutionsrelated tomonetary policyoperations denominated in euro | 410,290 | 1,324,347 | 5 Liabilities to other euro area residents denominated in euro | 303,864 | 564,582 |
6 Other claims on euro area credit institutions denominated in euro | 28,707 | 31,035 | 6 Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in euro | 281,940 | 540,725 |
7Securitiesof euro area residents denominated in euro | 4,898,966 | 5,102,068 | 7 Liabilities to euro area residents denominated in foreign currency | 16,382 | 11,683 |
8 Generalgovernment debtdenominated in euro | 20,917 | 21,589 | 8 Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in foreign currency | 4,474 | 4,753 |
9 Otherassets | 393,943 | 321,222 | 9 Counterpart of special drawing rights allocated by theIMF | 177,116 | 181,121 |
10 Other liabilities | 260,877 | 290,578 | |||
11Revaluationaccounts | 635,144 | 588,053 | |||
12Capitalandreserves | 120,242 | 120,237 | |||
Total assets | 6,935,489 | 7,951,039 | 6,935,489 | 7,951,039 |
See also
[edit]- TARGET2,thereal-time gross settlementsystem (RTGS) owned and operated by the Eurosystem.
Notes
[edit]- ^Most common name for post; also used: President, Chairman or General Secretary.
- ^Physical gold, i.e. bars, coins, plates, nuggets, in storage or ‘under way’. Non-physical gold, such as balances in gold sight accounts (unallocated accounts), term deposits and claims to receive gold arising from the following transactions: (a) upgrading or downgrading transactions; and (b) gold location or purity swaps where there is a difference of more than one business day between release and receipt.[7]
- ^Claims on counterparties resident outside the euro area including international and supranational institutions and central banks outside the euro area denominated in foreign currency[7]
- ^(a)Security investments inside the euro area other than those under asset item 11.3 ‘Other financial assets’ Notes and bonds, bills, zero bonds, money market paper, equity instruments held as part of the foreign reserves, all issued by euro area residents (b) Other claims on euro area residents other than those under asset item 11.3 ‘Other financial assets’ Loans, deposits, reverse repo transactions, sundry lending[7]
- ^(a) Balances with banks outside the euro area other than those under asset item 11.3 ‘Other financial assets’ Current accounts, fixed-term deposits, day-to-day money, reverse repo transactions in connection with the management of securities denominated in euro (b) Security investments outside the euro area other than those under asset item 11.3 ‘Other financial assets’ Equity instruments, notes and bonds, bills, zero bonds, money market paper, all issued by non-euro-area residents (c) Loans to non-euro-area residents other than those under asset item 11.3 ‘Other financial assets’ (d) Securities issued by entities outside the euro area other than those under asset item 11.3 ‘Other financial assets’ and asset item 7.1 ‘Securities held for monetary policy purposes’ Securities issued by supranational or international organisations, e.g. the European Investment Bank, irrespective of their geographical location, and not purchased for monetary policy purposes[7]
References
[edit]- ^Statute of the ECB(PDF)Archived15 April 2010 at theWayback Machine
- ^"European Central Bank/Eurosystem, Organisation".Archived fromthe originalon 14 September 2008.Retrieved30 July2008.
- ^"Price stability: Year-on-year increase in theHarmonized Index of Consumer Pricesfor the euro area of below 2%. "Source:FACTS presentation: Monetary policyArchived20 May 2017 at theWayback Machine
- ^"The mission of the Eurosystem".Archived fromthe originalon 16 July 2013.Retrieved30 July2008.
- ^"FACTS presentation: Organisation".Archived fromthe originalon 20 May 2017.Retrieved30 July2008.
- ^Statistics service."Consolidated balance sheet of the Eurosystem as at 31 December 2023".ecb.europa.Retrieved29 February2024.
- ^abcd"Decision - 2016/2247 - EN - EUR-Lex".eur-lex.europa.eu.Retrieved1 March2024.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under theCC BY 4.0license.
External links
[edit]- ECB – Eurosystem – Governing Council
- ECB – Eurosystem – Executive Board
- List of Eurosystem central banks' websites
- The Payment System(PDF) (archived 7 January 2012)