One single charger for all mobile phones and tablets - beneficial for the environment and for consumers USB Type-C port will be the new standard for portable devices, offering high-quality charging and data transfers Buyers will be able to choose whether to purchase a new device with or without a charging device Following Parliament’s approval, EU consumers will soon be able to use a single charging solution for their electronic devices. By the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets...

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Mutual funds holding hard-to-sell assets but offering daily redemptions can spark volatility and magnify the impact of shocks, especially in periods of market stress Mutual funds that allow investors to buy or sell their shares daily are an important component of the financial system, offering investment opportunities to investors and providing financing to companies and governments. Open-end investment funds, as they are known, have grown significantly in the past two decades, with $41 trillion in assets globally this year. That represents...

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Global Financial Stability Considerations for Monetary Policy in a High-Inflation Environment by Vice Chair Lael Brainard at “Financial Stability Considerations for Monetary Policy,” a research conference organized by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, New York | I want to start by thanking Anna Kovner, Rochelle Edge, and Bill Bassett for organizing this conference. The current global environment highlights the importance of having strong analytic and empirical...

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EACC is where the Action is, join us & be part of it! Activities during the Month of September at the EACC Network included: - @EACCCincinnati: Stammtisch - @EACCCincinnati: Trip to see Bengals vs. Miami Dolphins - @EACCNY: Meeting with Belgian Primeminister Alexander De Croo - @EACCNY: Briefing on Economic Effects of the War in Ukraine with Annika Eriksgård, Director for International Economic Relations & Global Governance, and Moreno Bertoldi, Acting Head of Unit, DG ECFIN – EUROPEAN COMMISSION) - @EACCCarolinas: Global Workforce Development ½...

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Remarks by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, at a panel at the conference “Future of Central Banking” organised by Lietuvos bankas and the Bank for International Settlements | Frankfurt am Main, 29 September 2022 | I am very pleased to participate in this conference to mark the centenary of Lietuvos bankas. Building on the ECB’s recent strategy review and our reflections on the policy mix, I will outline my views on the interplay between monetary, macroprudential and fiscal...

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Keynote speech by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at De Nederlandsche Bank/Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum conference on “Moving beyond climate: integrating biodiversity into financial markets” at Artis Zoo in Amsterdam The translation of the full Latin name of Artis Zoo, founded back in 1838 as “Natura Artis Magistra”, is “Nature is the teacher of the arts”. Today, nature has something to say to all...

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We wanted to present together the eighth package of sanctions. Last week, Russia has escalated the invasion of Ukraine to a new level. The sham referenda organised in the territories that Russia occupied are an illegal attempt to grab land and to change international borders by force. The mobilisation and Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons are further steps on the escalation path. We do not accept the sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. And we are...

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Today, the Commission calls on Member States to modernise their minimum income schemes as part of the ongoing pledge to reduce poverty and social exclusion in Europe. The proposed Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion sets out how Member States can modernise their minimum income schemes to make them more effective, lifting people out of poverty, while promoting the labour market integration of those who can work. Minimum income is cash payments that help households who need...

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Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine marks the return of geopolitical risk to Europe. Here the ECB blog looks at how global stock markets reacted to this risk and what role time and distance have played Though much ink has been spilled trying to understand stock markets, there is limited evidence on how geopolitics shape their performance. Establishing links between stock market performance and geopolitical concerns is challenging, as geopolitical effects are difficult to identify. We look at the market reaction...

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The High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on scaling up sustainable finance in low and middle-income countries meets in Brussels today for the first time kick-starting their reflection on the challenges and opportunities of sustainable finance in partner countries with a view to providing recommendations to the Commission on how to scale up funding from the private sector. At a time when the multiple global crises are taking a heavy toll on the global economy, overturning years of progress towards the...

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