FRANKFURT (MNI) – A decision by the European Central Bank to allow
national central banks to reject as collateral bank bonds that are
backed by governments under EU-IMF rescue programs is “not materially
relevant” since it concerns only a “very narrow set” of bonds, ECB
president Mario Draghi said on Wednesday.
“When all is said and done we are really talking about peanuts”,
Draghi said at the ECB’s monthly press conference. The whole issues has
been “way over blown,” he added.
Clarifying the ECB’s rules, Draghi said that the decision in fact
concerned only bank bonds backed by the governments of countries
receiving financial assistance that are posted as collateral to the
national central banks of other countries.
“It was only natural to say that each NCB [national central bank]
was free to accept or reject these bonds because the risk would fall on
these NCBs,” Draghi said.
–Brussels newsroom: +324-9522-8374; pkoh@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$EC$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$]
