Bank lending grew faster in countries with policy packages combining large fiscal, monetary, and prudential measures. Economists will be studying the pandemic for generations to learn from the dramatic global downturn and the ensuing credit crunch, but one important lesson about the scope of action needed to contain the next global crisis is already coming into focus. During the pandemic, countries often used all-out responses that combined large fiscal, monetary, and prudential policies like grants, credit facilities, and relaxed capital requirements....

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Europe must speed up its green and digital transition. For that, we need to complete the Capital Markets Union to provide effective financing. This is the plea made by the five Presidents of the ECB, EIB, European Council, European Commission and Eurogroup in a joint post The European Union is determined to fast-forward its green and digital transition. What we decide today will affect the generations to come. It is our collective responsibility to get it right. Creating net-zero industries,...

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Introductory remarks by Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the meeting of the Euro Cyber Resilience Board for pan-European Financial Infrastructures | Frankfurt am Main, 8 March 2023 | The proliferation of cyber threat actors combined with an increase in remote working and greater digital interconnectedness is raising the risk, frequency and severity of cyberattacks. Increasingly, cyber criminals are launching ransomware attacks and demanding payment in crypto. Cyberattacks related to geopolitical developments – Russia’s aggression...

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On 7 March 2023, the European Commission carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of companies and an association active in the fragrance industry in various Member States. In parallel, the Commission has sent out formal requests for information to several companies active in the same sector. The inspections and requests for information concern possible collusion in relation to the supply of fragrances and fragrance ingredients. Fragrances are used in the manufacture of consumer products such as household and personal...

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