The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the eurozone, the collective of European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their sole official currency. The European Central Bank (ECB) has, under Article 16 of its Statute,Statute of the ECB (PDF) the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand.

The Eurosystem consists of the ECB and the national central banks (NCB) of the 21 member states that are part of the eurozone. The national central banks apply the monetary policy of the ECB. The primary objective of the Eurosystem is price stability."Price stability: Year-on-year increase in the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices for the euro area of below 2%." Source: FACTS presentation: Monetary policy Secondary objectives are financial stability and financial integration. The mission statement of the Eurosystem says that the ECB and the national central banks jointly contribute to achieving the objectives.

The Eurosystem is independent. When performing Eurosystem-related tasks, neither the ECB, nor an NCB, nor any member of their decision-making bodies may seek or take instructions from any external body. The Community institutions and bodies and the governments of the member states may not seek to influence the members of the decision-making bodies of the ECB or of the NCBs in the performance of their tasks.

The Eurosystem is distinct from the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which comprises the ECB and the central banks of all European Union member states, including those that are not part of the eurozone.

Functions In accordance with the treaty establishing the European Community and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, the primary objective of the Eurosystem is to maintain price stability. Without prejudice to this objective, the Eurosystem supports the general economic policies in the Community and acts in accordance with the principles of an open market economy.

The basic tasks carried out by the Eurosystem are (art. 127 TFEU): to define and implement the common monetary policy of the eurozone to conduct foreign exchange operations to hold and manage the official foreign reserves of the euro zone Member States, and to promote the smooth operation of payment systems.

In addition, the Eurosystem contributes to the smooth conduct of policies pursued by the competent authorities relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions and the stability of the financial system.

The ECB has an advisory role vis-à-vis the Community and national authorities on matters within its field of competence, particularly where Community or national legislation is concerned. The ECB, assisted by the NCBs, has the task of collecting the necessary statistical information either from the competent national authorities or directly from economic agents to enable the ESCB to perform its tasks.

Members

+ Eurozone members (Eurosystem) State Central Bank Governor Website Eurozone European Central Bank Christine Lagarde https://ecb.europa.eu Austrian National Bank Martin Kocher https://www.oenb.at National Bank of Belgium http://www.nbb.be Bulgarian National Bank Dimitar Radev http://www.bnb.bg Croatian National Bank Ante Žigman http://www.hnb.hr Central Bank of Cyprus Christodoulos Patsalides http://www.centralbank.cy Bank of Estonia Ülo Kaasik http://www.eestipank.ee Bank of Finland Olli Rehn http://www.suomenpankki.fi Bank of France Emmanuel Moulin http://www.banque-france.fr Deutsche Bundesbank Joachim Nagel http://www.bundesbank.de Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras http://www.bankofgreece.gr Central Bank of Ireland Gabriel Makhlouf http://www.centralbank.ie Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta http://www.bancaditalia.it Bank of Latvia Mārtiņš Kazāks http://www.bank.lv Bank of Lithuania Gediminas Šimkus http://www.lb.lt Central Bank of Luxembourg Gaston Reinesch http://www.bcl.lu Central Bank of Malta Alexander Demarco http://centralbankmalta.org De Nederlandsche Bank Olaf Sleijpen http://www.dnb.nl Bank of Portugal Álvaro Santos Pereira http://www.bportugal.pt National Bank of Slovakia Peter Kažimír http://www.nbs.sk Bank of Slovenia Primož Dolenc http://www.bsi.si Bank of Spain José Luis Escrivá http://www.bde.es

Consolidated balance sheet of the Eurosystem +Consolidated balance sheet of the EurosystemAssets Liabilities(EUR millions)31 December 202431 December 202331 December 2022(EUR millions)31 December 202431 December 202331 December 20221 Gold and gold receivables872,156649,110592,8981 Banknotes in circulation1,588,3441,567,7111,572,0332 Claims on non-euro area residents denominated in foreign currency ts522,440499,583523,2402 Liabilities to euro area credit institutions related to monetary policy operations denominated in euro2,991,2833,508,8653,998,9403 Claims on euro area residents denominated in foreign currency16,01513,87620,4173 Other liabilities to euro area credit institutions denominated in euro27,86958,87378,3354 Claims on non-euro area residents denominated in euro20,13220,09714,2244 Debt certificates issued0005 Lending to euro area credit institutions related to monetary policy operations denominated in euro 34,221410,290 1,324,347 5 Liabilities to other euro area residents denominated in euro203,849303,864564,5826 Other claims on euro area credit institutions denominated in euro36,29228,707 31,035 6 Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in euro 242,367281,940 540,725 7 Securities of euro area residents denominated in euro 4,532,9624,898,966 5,102,068 7 Liabilities to euro area residents denominated in foreign currency 11,27416,382 11,6838 General government debt denominated in euro20,39420,917 21,589 8 Liabilities to non-euro area residents denominated in foreign currency 6034,474 4,753 9 Other assets365,924393,943321,2229 Counterpart of special drawing rights allocated by the IMF 182,810177,116 181,121 10 Other liabilities 218,667260,877 290,578 11 Revaluation accounts 872,322635,144 588,053 12 Capital and reserves81,148120,242120,237Total assets6,420,5366,935,4897,951,0396,420,5366,935,4897,951,039

See also

System of National Banks (Yugoslavia) T2 (RTGS), the real-time gross settlement system owned and operated by the Eurosystem.

Notes

References

External links ECB – Eurosystem – Governing Council ECB – Eurosystem – Executive Board List of Eurosystem central banks' websites The Payment System (PDF) (archived 7 January 2012)