Some central banks manage accounts for private-sector customers, much like commercial banks. Other central banks hold interests in production or service industries, which may be for commercial or strategic reasons. The Statute of the ESCB does not envisage any forceful dismantling or unification of the structures that each national central bank has developed in the course of time.
They are therefore free to choose their own legal form and organization. However, it must be clearly pointed out that any national central bank will perform such additional tasks within its own responsibility and for its own account and that such tasks are not deemed to be part of ESCB activities.