According to the Financial Times diaries of the six members of the ECB’s executive board show that the decision-makers have met representatives of the private sector shortly before policy meetings.
The diaries, made available to the FT under EU freedom of information rules, reveal engagements with the private sector. They cover the schedule of ECB’s governing board between August 2014 and August 2015 and show that Benoît Cœuré and Yves Mersch met representatives of UBS the day before a policy meeting in 2014. Mr. Cœuré also met people from BNP Paribas and BlackRock the day of the meeting and one day before respectively. Vítor Constâncio, ECB vice-president, and Peter Praet, its chief economist, met Algebris before important meetings while the former also met with BNP Paribas Fortis and Pimco. Spokespersons declared that the ECB's representatives always make sure not to disclose sensitive information during the meetings.
The revelations come at a time when the relationship between central bankers and the financial services industry is closely scrutinised, after Mr Cœuré’s faux pas at an event in London earlier this year when he disclosed market-sensitive information to industry representatives.
The ECB is reviewing the issue and set out new principles for how officials should interact with the private sector. The central bank already has a “quiet period” rule, stipulating that ECB officials are expected to refrain from speaking to the public about monetary issues.
An ECB spokeswoman said that meetings with the industry, which are not unusual, “help us understand the dynamics of the economy and financial markets”.
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