At the beginning of this month, considering the contraction of demand, the prospect of prolonged cyclical weakness and the decline of both actual and expected inflation in the medium term to well below 2 per cent, the ECB Governing Council lowered the rate on main refinancing operations further, taking it to a new historic low of 0.5 per cent.
The Federal Reserve has long supported efforts to improve the infrastructure for the clearing and settlement of derivatives. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was a leader in improving the documentation, settlement, and transparency of credit default swaps. The Federal Reserve has also encouraged the development of industry warehouse utilities for the collection of trade information on derivatives.