by Jan Strupczewski
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, assured union leaders on Friday that banks in the euro zone are robust and have strong capital and liquidity positions, EU officials reported. .
Christine Lagarde presented her assessment of economic and financial developments to EU leaders as European banking stocks are again under pressure for fear of contagion to the sector.
“The eurozone banking sector is resilient because it has strong capital and liquidity positions,” the ECB chief said, as quoted by EU officials present at the meeting.
“The banking sector in the euro area is strong because we have applied to all institutions the internationally agreed regulatory reforms after the global financial crisis (in 2008),” she added. “The ECB’s toolkit is fully equipped to provide liquidity to the eurozone financial system, if needed,” she added.
These statements echo the Frankfurt institution’s monetary policy statement issued on March 16 following a further interest rate hike.
(Report Jan Strupczewski; French version Camille Raynaud and Laetitia Volga, edited by Kate Entringer)
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