FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank will not give Spanish banks more leeway to access its funding operations, a Bundesbank board member said, warning that Sunday’s election in Greece may not herald the clarity some in the market are hoping for.

The European debt crisis may reach new heights next week as Greek elections on Sunday could bring to power the SYRIZA party which rejects EU/IMF bailout program terms, while Spain is on the verge of requesting international aid for its teetering banks.

FRANKFURT, June 15 (Reuters) – The euro zone economy faces
serious risks and no inflation threat, European Central Bank
President Mario Draghi said on Friday in comments that
heightened expectations the ECB could cut interest rates or take
other policy action soon.

Draghi also said the ECB stood ready to provide further
liquidity to solvent banks, stressing that its provision of
ultra-cheap 3-year funds, or LTROs, late in 2011 and early this
year had averted a major credit crunch.

FRANKFURT/LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) – Central banks from
Tokyo to London checked their ammunition on Friday in
preparation for any turmoil from Greece’s election, with the
European Central Bank hinting at an interest rate cut and
Britain set to open its coffers.

ECB President Mario Draghi said his bank was ready to step
in and fund any viable euro zone bank that gets in trouble, and
painted a picture of a deteriorating economy with no inflation
danger — conditions for monetary easing.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A bailout for Spanish banks will help stabilize the country, the European Central Bank said on Tuesday, presenting a report in which it put the onus firmly on euro zone governments to solve the continuing crisis in the currency bloc.

In its twice-yearly financial stability review, the ECB said there had been a renewed rise in euro zone tensions since April, but that measures of stress in the banking system were below where they had been at the end of last year.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank stands ready to act should the situation in the euro zone deteriorate further, the ECB Vice-President Vitor Constancio told Reuters Insider television on Tuesday, pointing to the increased risks the bloc faces.

“We (ECB) are still very much on top of the situation,” Constancio told Reuters Insider in a TV interview after presenting the ECB’s latest Financial Stability Review.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank bought no government bonds for the 13th week running last week, ECB data showed on Monday as the bank judges the controversial program of diminishing benefit in the face of the deepening euro zone debt crisis.

The ECB has bought hardly any bonds from euro zone countries since Mario Draghi took over as president in November as policymakers have become increasingly wary of the risks piling up on the balance sheet and the lack of incentives for reforms.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – None of the eight countries on the waiting list to join the euro currently meet the requirements to do so, the European Central Bank said on Wednesday – assuming, that is, that they still want to.

Before the debt crisis took off, European Union members not yet part of the common currency were queuing up to join.

ELTVILLE, Germany, May 25 (Reuters) – The debate over how
the U.S. Federal Reserve can best articulate its policy actions
intensified on Friday as a top Fed official warned against
‘discretionary’ decisions, questioned forward guidance and asked
if a more systematic approach was desirable.

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said the
financial crisis has tied the hands of many central banks,
including the Fed, creating a “conundrum” of near-zero interest
rates and a search for new and untested ways to boost economies.

ELTVILLE, Germany (Reuters) – The debate over how the Federal Reserve can best articulate its policy actions grew on Friday as a top Fed official warned against discretionary decisions, and asked whether a more systematic approach was desirable.

Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said the financial crisis has tied the hands of many central banks, including the Fed, creating a “conundrum” of near-zero interest rates and a search for new and untested ways to boost economies.

FRANKFURT, April 30 (Reuters) – Growth in lending to euro
zone firms and consumers slowed in March as banks scaled up
purchases of government bonds, showing that an ambitious funding
drive by the European Central Bank has yet to trickle down to
the real economy.

Monday’s ECB data offered the first pointer to loan activity
since the central bank completed the second of two tenders that
flooded the euro zone’s banking sector with more than 1 trillion
euros of cheap three-year cash.