Speech by Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the ECB Conference on Money Markets 2025

Frankfurt am Main, 6 November 2025

Key messages:

• Quantitative normalisation is proceeding smoothly, with strong liquidity positions of banks and abundant excess liquidity
• Fixed-rate full allotment in standard refinancing operations ensures that liquidity is always available when banks need it
• Operational framework suggests a sequence for how to supply reserves in the future, with a persistent take-up of standard refinancing operations to precede the launch of structural operations, starting with longer-term refinancing operations and followed by a structural securities portfolio
• Considerations about stance neutrality, policy space and financial soundness suggest tilting the new structural securities portfolio towards shorter-term securities

The Eurosystem balance sheet is a mirror of the shocks that have hit the euro area economy over the years. It tells a story of crisis and…