ECB Governing Council member Ardo Hansson urged not to read too much in to the weaker than expected Q3 GDP figure (0.2% qoq released yesterday). He said, “these were preliminary numbers, maybe they were a bit slower than some expected.” And, “we have to wait and see what was behind this.” Also, he said “as there have been no significant, material change in one way or the other I would not make major conclusions” regarding monetary policy or economic outlook. He also emphasized the need to look at ECB’s own staff projections to be updated in December instead.
Separately, Daniele Nouy, chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, said that Eurozone has “reduced risks enough for the European Deposit Insurance Scheme to start.”. And it’s the right time to set it up and “consider some solidarity”. Nouy also added creating cross border consolidation in the banking said can be a solution to the top risks of low profitability. She said “such cross-border mergers would also create a few large European banks – let us call them `European champions’ – which could then successfully compete on the global stage.”
