European Databases | ECB

The European Central Bank is an institution of the European Union and was established on June 1st 1998.

• The European Central Bank is located in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. Its premises cover an area of 120 000 m².
• The main purpose of the European Central Bank is to ensure price stability within the European Union by keeping the inflation under control. This goal is reached by planning the production and distribution of banknotes and by giving recommendations to the EU member states for reducing risks concerning financial stability.
• The bank is responsible for the standardized supervision of euro area banks and manages and supports the infrastructure behind digital banking. They are consistently working on new ways to make euro banknotes more secure and resistant.
• Currently the president of the European Central Bank is Christine Lagarde, born 1956 in Paris, France.
• Together with the national central banks of the EU member states, the ECB constitutes the European System of Central Banks. The ECB employs over 3500 people from all over Europe.


• The European Central Bank is politically independent, meaning that the bank and its members with decision-making powers are not allowed to take instructions from EU institutions or governments of the EU member states. To match the independence, accountability is necessary, supervised through hearings, written questions and annual reports.
• The website gives a broad illustration of the bank’s history and present, including various educational articles concerning banking and economy.

• The extensive glossary on the ECB website provides an overview of the most important terms and abbreviations concerning, e.g. payments and markets, banking supervision, the ECB, statistics and financial stability.
• The list is displayed alphabetically and can be sorted by topic or initial letter. A search function is provided as well as a button to print or share the page.