Expectations over ECB bond-buying plan intensify

European Central Bank governors meet on Thursday as expectations intensify that the bank will initiate a big bond-buying campaign to avert deflation in the euro zone by buying up sovereign bonds.

The meeting comes amid German opposition to such a departure, with Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann in the vanguard of resistance. ECB president Mario Draghi met German chancellor Angela Merkel last Wednesday on the very day that an adviser to Europe's highest court handed down a positive legal opinion on an earlier bond-buying initiative.

Mr Weidmann voted against that scheme, known as outright monetary transactions, and said the opinion of the advocate general of the European Court of Justice showed that the ECB was subject to legal limits on its actions. The expectation remains the national central banks will remain on the hook for any losses arising from the intervention, thereby protecting German taxpayers from liable for any default on bonds acquired by the ECB.

Not expected to vote

Still, neither Mr Weidmann nor his compatriot on the ECB executive board, Sabine Lautenschläger, are expected to vote this week in favour of a quantative easing programme.

Interviewed last week by The Irish Times, French ECB executive board member Benoît Coeuré said the programme would have to be big to be efficient.

“How big is big enough? This has to be an informed decision based on what we know are the transmission channels: is it more a direct impact on interest rates, is it more on the so-called portfolio rebalancing effect, that banks would buy other kinds of assets, etc?

“Given the persistent degree of fragmentation that we have in the euro zone, this would also depend on the scope, on the universe of assets, on which government bonds we buy. So you have a set of connected decisions which are being studied.”

Asked about Mr Weidmann’s position and the ECB governing council’s preference for unanimity, Mr Coeuré acknowledged the risk of “unintended consequences” and “negative” impacts.

“It might create risks to financial stability because it will drive assets prices up. We want to know precisely. So we want to exchange views,” he said.