Thursday

28th Mar 2024

ECB chief under scrutiny for alleged conflict of interest

The EU ombudsman has launched an investigation into an alleged conflict of interest by European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi due to his membership in a club of top bankers, the Group of Thirty (G30).

"We received a complaint and sent a letter to the ECB. Now we are waiting for a reply," Gundi Gadesmann, spokeswoman for EU ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The ECB also confirmed it received a request from the ombudsman and will respond in due time, while rejecting the claim that membership in the G30 is against the bank's ethics code.

The complaint was filed last month by Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based transparency group, which criticised Draghi's membership in a bank lobby group whose declared statement is to influence the debate on regulation of the financial sector.

"There's the opaque nature of the group's activities and of its membership. There is no way for the public to know the details of the President's involvement, since the meetings of the members are confidential. Information on the discussions that take place, and whether the members commit to certain lines of action is not accessible to the public," the complaint says.

"In our view, given the above, the group has the characteristics of a lobbying vehicle for private financial interests. It is an important interface between the private banking sector and central banks, and allows some of the biggest private banks in the world to exert a direct influence on the top executives of the most important central banks, including the European Central Bank."

"We believe that any president of the ECB has to make it absolutely clear that he or she is not under the influence of the financial lobby at any time, and has to ensure that he is not attached to a forum or process that could jeopardise his independence or give rise to conflicts of interest."

With the ECB in line to receive greater powers of scrutiny over banks in the eurozone, independence from the private banking sector is becoming more important, the group added.

Draghi already came under fire shortly after his ECB appointment for his past as a manager at US investment bank Goldman Sachs, where he oversaw European operations which included debt swaps with Greece that allowed Athens to cover up its real deficit.

Later on, in 2010, the deficit was too big to handle and Greece became the first euro country to ask for a bailout.

Bloomberg news agency has also filed a case at the EU court in Luxembourg against the ECB for its refusal to disclose internal documents which refer to the Goldman Sachs-Greece operations.

At a hearing in June, the ECB said it decided not to release the documents in 2010 when Bloomberg first asked for them, because it would have "fueled negative perceptions about Greece's ability to honor its debt."

Greece earlier this year was unable to honour its debt and signed up to a 'voluntary' debt restructuring in which banks slashed half of its obligations.

"Markets will perform better when they have transparency ... The question is who knew what; and when did they know it?" Timothy Pitt-Payne, a lawyer for Bloomberg News, told the court in June.

The European Central Bank: a hamstrung firefighter

The European Central Bank is an important firefighter in the euro-crisis. But increasingly divergent eurozone economies are limiting the effects of its policies and democratic scrutiny remains an issue.

Big banks: From Greek bailout to Hamlet's castle

A lobby for the world's biggest banks - the International Institute of Finance - became a key EU player when it negotiated the debt cut on Greece's second bailout. Its world of rented castles and sopranos shows losses were bearable.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  2. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  3. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  4. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  5. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  6. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  7. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  8. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us