In June 2026, the ECB Governing Council approved climate-related financial disclosures reports, discussed T2 operating hours extension, and made governance changes including new balance sheet items and appointment of a new Secretary for monetary policy.
On 21 May 2026, the ECB Governing Council authorized the publication of the fourth ECB report on climate-related financial disclosures of Eurosystem assets held for monetary policy purposes and of the ECB’s foreign reserves. The reports include climate metrics, targets, governance, strategy, and risk management information. A second report covers climate disclosures of the ECB’s non-monetary portfolios. Both reports, along with a press release and updated FAQs, will be published on the ECB’s website on 15 June 2026.
On 21 May 2026, the Governing Council noted the outcome of a public consultation on extending T2 operating hours, which involved responses from 125 entities across 19 countries. It approved a new short settlement window for liquidity management during weekends and TARGET closing days over the next two years. The Council also instructed the Market Infrastructure Board to explore further extensions of T2 opening hours in line with its strategic roadmap. An announcement regarding T2 hours extension is available on the ECB’s website.
The Governing Council also noted the TARGET Services Annual Report 2025 on 3 June 2026, which details developments and performance of T2, T2S, TIPS, and ECMS in 2025, including topics such as T2 operating hours extension, liquidity impacts of the Instant Payments Regulation, the February 2025 TARGET incident, cross-currency settlement, and currency integration activities. The report is accessible on the ECB’s website.
On 28 May 2026, the Governing Council approved, in principle, the inclusion of “Profit/(loss) for the year” and “Accumulated losses carried forward” as new items in the Eurosystem’s consolidated annual balance sheet. This change aims to increase transparency and align the balance sheet format with the ECB’s Annual Accounts. The relevant legal instruments will be prepared by AMICO and LEGCO to implement these changes starting with the 2026 balance sheet, published in June 2027.
On 10 June 2026, the Governing Council appointed Roland Straub as Secretary for monetary policy, effective 1 July 2026. Mr. Straub will succeed Christophe Kamps, who served as acting Secretary following the retirement of Massimo Rostagno in February 2026. The Council thanked Mr. Kamps for his role during the transition.
On 8 June 2026, the ECB announced key milestones for implementing the Integrated Reporting Framework (IReF) programme, which aims to harmonize statistical reporting across euro area banks. The milestones include a public consultation on the draft IReF Regulation in the second half of 2027, a one-year pilot reporting phase starting in Q2 2030, and the first official reporting of IReF data in 2031. Further details are available in the ECB’s press release.
The ECB Banking Supervision also issued guidance on compliance with the Joint Guidelines on environmental, social, and governance risks stress testing.
