"Never have there been so many cameras," said Jean-Claude Trichet when he appeared in front of the media during his last press conference as president of the European Central Bank (ECB). Although he will not step down from his position until October 31, yesterday was his official termination date -- unless there is an urgent situation to address before he leaves.
And the date was sooner than expected. The ECB, as was anticipated, spoke out against the difficulties experienced by the banks upon announcing new measures designed to bolster their liquidity.
There were no rules governing interest rates. In the battle for orthodox monetary policy, the ECB meeting was held in the headquarters of the Bundesbank (Germany's central bank) in Berlin, and Trichet did not drop the price of money. He maintained rates at 1.5%, something that his successor, the Italian Mario Draghi, will have to deal with and decide when to cut rates.
The transmission is broken
Before, the ECB focused on the banking sector. More specific, on their increasing struggles to finance themselves. For this reason, it dusted off several measures that it activated in 2009 in order to placate the lender's need for cash. Trichet gave the last boost of liquidity to the sector.
