In April 2026, the ECB Governing Council adopted key decisions including the ECB Annual Report 2025, amendments to reserve remuneration policies, macroprudential reports, financial integration policies, digital euro standards, and supervisory measures.
On 17 April 2026, the ECB Governing Council adopted the ECB’s Annual Report 2025, which was presented to the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and published on the ECB website in 23 EU languages.
On 26 March 2026, the Governing Council adopted Decision ECB/2026/10 amending Decision (EU) 2019/1743 on the remuneration of excess reserves and certain deposits. The new remuneration policy, which remunerates excess reserves at the deposit facility rate, will apply from 17 June 2026.
The Governing Council also took note of several reports and policy initiatives, including the report on non-bank financial intermediation, the ECB report on financial integration, and the Eurosystem response to the European Commission’s consultation on banking sector competitiveness.
In the payments sector, the ECB published a comprehensive payments strategy on 31 March 2026, and approved the mandate of the Appia Steering Group on 9 April 2026. The Council also approved standards agreements for digital euro online payments and roles for the digital euro pilot, which is scheduled to start in late 2027.
Regarding legislative advice, the Governing Council issued opinions on tax increases on credit institutions, the composition of Latvijas Banka’s Council, capital market integration, cash payments obligations, and remuneration of client funds in current accounts, between 30 March and 21 April 2026.
In corporate governance, a new member was appointed to the Market Infrastructure Board, and meeting schedules for 2027 and 2028 were published on 24 April 2026.
In statistics, the ECB adopted amendments to guidelines on securities holdings data, updated the list of reporting agents, and moved forward with the Integrated Reporting Framework and data projects, with implementation plans expected by June 2026.
In banking supervision, the ECB published results of asset quality reviews, approved reports on vulnerabilities in commercial real estate, imposed a €6.2 million penalty on BofA Securities Europe SA, and announced streamlining measures for internal models from October 2026. It also confirmed compliance with EBA guidelines on ancillary services undertakings.
