ECB's Visco suggests negative rates to be discussed at March meeting

FXStreet (Łódź) - ECB Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said on Monday that the central bank would consider introducing negative deposit rates at the upcoming monetary policy meeting, although it was not certain whether any action would be taken.

Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Sydney, Visco, who is also Governor of the Bank of Italy, said that there was still room for using conventional measures, but that the ECB would act if the need arised. He did not see deflationary pressures in the Eurozone at the moment however.

Furthermore, in an interview for the Italian la Repubblica daily newspaper, Visco commented on the situation of the Italian financial institutions, whose bad loans currently amount to 156 billion euros, suggesting that they should "clean up their balance sheets, by separating deteriorated loans from other assets."

The euro remained unmoved against the greenback at 1.3762 following the release of Visco's statements.