European Central Bank

European Central Bank

Emblem Seat
Headquarters	Frankfurt, Germany
Coordinates	50°06′32″N 8°42′12″E / 50.1089°N 8.7034°E / 50.1089; 8.7034
Established	1 June 1998
President	Mario Draghi
Central bank of	Eurozone  Austria  Belgium  Cyprus  Estonia  France  Finland  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Italy  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Malta  Netherlands  Portugal  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain
Currency	Euro EUR (ISO 4217)
Reserves	0.526 trillion euro in total 0.04 trillion euro directly 0.34 trllion euro (Eurosystem incl. gold) 0.15 trillion euro (forex reserves)
Bank rate	0.00% (Main refinancing operations) 0.25% (Marginal lending facility)
Interest on reserves	-0.40% (Deposit facility)
Preceded by	19 national banks National Bank of Austria National Bank of Belgium Central Bank of Cyprus Bank of Estonia Bank of Finland Banque de France Deutsche Bundesbank Bank of Greece Central Bank of Ireland Banca d'Italia Latvijas Banka Bank of Lithuania Central Bank of Luxembourg Central Bank of Malta De Nederlandsche Bank Banco de Portugal Banka Slovenije Národná banka Slovenska Banco de España
Website	www.ecb.europa.eu

The European Central Bank (ECB; French: Banque centrale européenne) is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy of the eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the world's most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states. The Treaty of Amsterdam established the bank in 1998, and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2015^[update] the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy, former member of the World Bank, and former managing director of the Goldman Sachs international division (2002–2005). The bank primarily occupied the Eurotower prior to, and during, the construction of the new headquarters.

The primary objective of the ECB, mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB, is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone. Its basic tasks, set out in Article 3 of the Statute, are to set and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone, to conduct foreign exchange operations, to take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks and operation of the financial market infrastructure under the TARGET2 payments system and the technical platform (currently being developed) for settlement of securities in Europe (TARGET2 Securities). The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute, 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.