ECB ready to "act if necessary" in case of Brexit

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So says Bank of France governor and ECB governing council member Villeroy speaking to Welt am Sonntag 12 June 2016

  • primarily the BOE would have to respond to possible Brexit "but if necessary the ECB is ready to act"
  • Brexit would have consequences for London as financial centre

Joint intervention can not be ruled out, and there is market talk of a plan being out in place as I reported previously here. The fact remains that both the UK and Eurozone will have currency wobbles if we do vote to Leave.

On ECB QE he says:

  • defends corp bond buying
  • rejects criticism that ECB allegedly weighs in on European industrial policy with the purchases
  • Germany is the only country that believes ECB policy shaped by fact that Draghi is Italian, says allegations "unfair"
  • other central banks inc US Fed successfully pursued similar policy as ECB
  • ECB might need to explain policy better

Central banks giving clear communication? Now that really is too much to ask.

 

ECB's Weidmann: Don't see need for monetary easing after Brexit

More signs the ECB will wait-and-see

A 'sources' report earlier this week also indicated the ECB is in no rush to act.

  • Must keep period of uncertainty as short as possible
  • Scope of Brexit's economic impact not yet clear
  • Brexit to slightly dampen growth in Eurozone and Germany
  • Not clear more easing would have a stimulative effect
  • A political crisis needs a political solution

He spoke at an economics club in Munich.

"I do not see the need for additional monetary easing in the euro area in reaction to the Brexit vote," he Weidmann. "Monetary policy is already very expansionary and it is questionable whether more easing would at all have a stimulative effect."
 

ECB ready to wait until Dec before discussing QE again - MNI

Social media reporting an MNI sources story doing the rounds

  • ECB members generally ready to wait until Dec before discussing the future of QE
  • ECB want to focus on the implementation of recent measures
  • Some thinking that the current measures will have a greater impact than the staff projections imply

The last line is something we heard recently. It's a sources story so take with the usual pinch of salt.

 

ECB QE count: Bought €16.10bn vs €9.73bn prior in QE

Latest ECB QE purchase details week ending 8 July 2016

  • Total QE 894.6bn vs 878.5bn prior
  • Total Covered bonds 184.1bn vs 183.6bn
  • Total ABS 20.2bn vs 19.9bn prior
  • Bought 1.676bn in corp bonds vs 1.900bn prior

That takes it back up towards the levels we should be expecting. Last week was lower but that may have been due to the month, quarter, H1 end if there were some bonds maturing and rolling off.

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