peter praet : interview with bloomberg tv interview with peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, and bloomberg tv, conducted by ms jana randow on 27 march 2019 and broadcast on 28 march 2019. * * * the president is talking about mitigating the side effect of negative rates. does that mean tiering is coming? praet : well, i think don ’ t rush. i think it ’ s a bit premature to take that conclusion. what is clear now is that the perspective of low rates for longer has triggered that debate about the side effects of negative rates. i think it ’ s fair to say that this issue has to be analysed carefully. but you need in any case to find a monetary policy case ; you cannot just conclude let ’ s do the theory because the economy is slowing down and the rates are low for longer. i think it ’ s fair to say that we have to go into this issue but we need to have a convincing monetary policy case to do that. now, when you look at the economy today and the lending channel, we don ’ t see any particular problem in the lending channel today. as we know with the weakening economy it may happen in the future so you have to be ready and to look at the possible instruments or decisions you may need to take in case. so readiness, yes, but i think don ’ t rush too quickly to conclusions but it ’ s fair to say that the conversation has started. if the conversation has started, does it mean that interest rates will stay low for even longer? praet : i think it ’ s difficult to say today. when you look at prices, market prices, yes the date of the first lift - off has been pushed further by market participants, so this debate on the tiering has been coming. as i say, the perspective of rates for longer is something you have to look at, all the consequences of that. does tiering make the tool of negative interest rates less effective? praet : the negative rates have been extremely useful to support the economy basically because the opportunity costs of saving have been low. so you push people either to spend or to go into more risk and supporting the economy, going into investment and all that. we have been big effects of the negative rates on the economy, which is good also for the banks themselves because if their customers do better it ’ s also good for them. the question that

04 / 11 / 2020 monetary policy in changing conditions speech monetary policy in changing conditions speech by isabel schnabel, member of the executive board of the ecb, at the second ebi policy conference on “ europe and the covid - 19 crisis – looking back and looking forward ” frankfurt, 4 november 2020 europe is in the midst of the second wave of the coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) pandemic. rising infection numbers across the euro area have made new far - reaching containment measures necessary to contain the spread of the virus and protect the most vulnerable members of our society as well as our public health systems. the new measures will again come at significant personal and economic cost. they will slow the path of recovery, increase the risks of long - lasting labour market scarring and ultimately require new fiscal measures to sustain demand and provide relief to those who are least able to bear the burden of the crisis. since the start of the pandemic, monetary policy has contributed to mitigating the social and economic costs of this crisis. in the euro area, the ecb has taken quick and decisive action to provide stability in financial markets, reduce borrowing costs and safeguard the supply of credit. in my remarks this afternoon, i will explain the ecb ’ s response to the coronavirus crisis in more detail. i will start by briefly recalling the measures that the governing council took in response to the first wave of infections in spring. i will then discuss how the situation today differs from the situation we were facing in spring and the challenges monetary policy has to confront in the current environment. monetary policy response to the first wave when the pandemic first broke out in europe, financial conditions tightened significantly. euro area stock markets fell into turmoil, collapsing by more than 35 % in only a few weeks as investors rushed into safehaven assets ( see left chart slide 2 ). the euro area sovereign bond market fragmented, causing spreads on lower - rated government bonds to rise sharply ( see right chart slide 2 ). at the same time, corporate credit spreads reached levels last seen in the midst of the euro area sovereign debt crisis. in short, the very stability of our financial system was at risk and the transmission of our monetary policy was severely impaired. indicators aggregating the stress levels in different market segments demonstrate how serious the situation in global financial markets was during the first two weeks of march ( see slide 3 ). swift and determined action was needed to ensure that what had started as an economic and