Though a few banks have already done so, there is scope for further progress in this regard by others. There are several co-operative banks too in the system which extend banking services and some of them also have relatively large-scale operations.
All these elements indicate that the moderation in the pace of the euro area economic expansion will likely extend into the current year. This is also reflected in our staff macroeconomic projections. In fact, growth for this year has been revised downwards to 1.1%, which is 0.6% lower than anticipated in the December forecast.