The Scope for Financial Stability Considerations in the Fulfilment of the Mandate of the ECB/Eurosystem

The article starts by examining the justification for central bank independence, ie the need to protect money, as private property, from inflation. Still, the independent central bank may exercise some discretion, as required if it has to balance two mandates with each other. On this basis, a secondary financial stability mandate is deemed to be possible. In the law of the European Central Bank/European System of Central Banks (ECB/ESCB), such a mandate can be implied, in the price stability mandate itself, in other words, in article 127(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), given that financial stability is necessary for the credit channel of monetary transmission to function properly. This implied mandate is confirmed, but also restricted in scope, by the ECB ‘contribution’ clause in article 127(5) TFEU. This financial stability mandate of the ECB is a source of guidance for it to organize flexible inflation targeting. It would favour a more active function of the ECB in macroprudential supervision than currently exercised. Lastly, it should lead to the recognition of ECB competence in the area of lending of last resort. As a matter of policy, it is not proposed to introduce a financial stability mandate of equal standing with price stability. An explicit confirmation of a secondary mandate may be useful, though it would rather confirm what can already be found by interpretation.