Interview with Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, conducted by Lluís Pellicer

30 March 2023

You have said that euro area banks are safe. Are all the channels of financial crisis contagion closed?

The euro area banking system is sound and resilient: it has robust capital and liquidity levels. And we have implemented the post-crisis regulatory regime, with rigorous supervision. Moreover, the ECB stands ready and has the necessary tools available to provide liquidity to the system if needed. President Lagarde made it very clear: there is no trade-off between price stability and financial stability. We are not caught between a rock and a hard place, as our decision to raise interest rates by 50 basis points shows.

Things are still turbulent two weeks on from the start of the crisis. Do you think it will be necessary to use those tools?

As I said, the banks are resilient, they are well capitalised and they are well…