Anfa: ECB publishes secret agreement of the central banks – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Since the end of last year, there is the requirement of politics and science, the European Central Bank (ECB) should publish a hitherto secret agreement on controversial securities purchases of individual euro area central banks. Now the EU institution has responded to the ongoing criticism.

With the publication of the regulation more transparency should be created, the ECB said on Friday evening. The so-called Anfa Agreement (Agreement on net financial assets) regulates between the ECB and the national central banks, the framework in which these securities – including government bonds – may acquire for its own account for its own purposes.

Such purchases came last in the headlines. They had risen sharply in recent years in part, without the public was informed in detail. Here also the suspicion was loud, central banks operated via Anfa purchases prohibited state funding

According to the ECB, the Anfa-financial assets have recently fallen slightly and lay -. Summarized ECB and countries central banks – the end of 2015 at 490 Billion euro. Since the introduction of the euro in 2002, this investment portfolios have grown by an average of five percent. Thus, the increase was lower than the growth of banknotes in circulation during the same period.

dissertation brought the transactions at issue

It should be ensured that these investment operations of the national central banks with the prohibition the monetary state financing are consistent, it said in explanation of the ECB, which they now put on their website next to the Anfa Agreement.

A doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Berlin had in 2015 initiated the discussion about such Anfa purchases. According to the work of the stock of loans and securities from such transactions with the national central banks of 2005 was rocketed by the end of 2014 by several hundred billion euros upwards.

The Bundesbank had on its balance sheet in 2014 around 12.4 billion expelled Euro in such securities investments. Among them were, however, no government bonds.