At the same time, new hacking methods spread through the net at lightning speed and are constantly evolving. Of course, this is an issue that banking supervisors are also dealing with. IT security is therefore one of the focal points for European banking supervisors in 2015. As always, the Bundesbank and the ECB are working together closely and successfully in this area.
But, as the ECB lowered interest rates, these reductions were not being passed on to firms and households in a large part of the euro area, signalling an unusual disconnect between expanding central bank liquidity, exceptionally stimulative monetary policy interest rates and contractionary loan dynamics to NFCs and households. The ECB then responded to these unprecedented conditions with a twofold reaction.