The national central banks are indispensable intermediaries between the policymakers at the ECB and the Eurosystem counterparties in that they ensure that all of the many Eurosystem counterparties have equal and equitable access to central bank liquidity.
Additionally, the national central banks’ proximity to the home financial and banking sector guarantees that the Eurosystem’s monetary policy instruments retain their effectiveness and efficiency even in a rapidly changing environment. Therefore, the tasks the national central banks handle on behalf of the ECB include the execution of open market and other monetary policy operations.