We might note that the Eurosystem and the ECB are in somewhat different position in that regard than the Federal Reserve, for example. Because of its institutional position, the Federal Reserve is able to operate with quite small own capital. In Europe, by contrast, the Central Banks are by construction financially more separated from the governments.
This means that they must be quite self-reliant in terms risk-bearing capacity and of capital buffers. ON FINANCIAL REGULATION The changes in central bank's risk management have occurred in parallel with major reform in banking regulation, globally and especially in the EU. These reforms have been necessary on general terms, but as a by-product, they also facilitate the central banks' risk management tasks.