Corporate Europe Observatory — Corporate capture at its most extreme: 98% of ECB advisors represent industry

ECB advisory groups are used as lobby platforms by the financial industry, Corporate Europe Observatory’s newest report shows. Published today, “Open door for forces of finance at the ECB” reveals that the advisory groups counselling the European Central Bank have become largely dominated by representatives of some of the most influential global financial corporations. European parliamentarians are urged to act.

Like many other EU institutions, the European Central Bank (ECB) actively seeks external expertise for its policies - a total of 22 advisory groups provide ECB decision-makers with recommendations on all aspects of EU monetary policy. Likewise comparable to other EU bodies, however, there is a hefty industry-bias in many of these expert groups.

The new report unveils that 508 of 517 available seats across all groups have been assigned to representatives of private financial institutions. More than 98 per cent of advisors in these circles are therefore providing expertise with a touch of corporate spin. [Among all 144 entities with seats in an ECB advisory group, 64 do not even have an entry in the EU’s lobby register, the EU Transparency Register.]

Such figures raise the question whether, the membership in the ECB’s advisory groups is a covetable asset for the big private banks, where opportunities to influence programme decisions can come with multi-billion euro stakes for the industry....

Corporate Europe Observatory - Exposing the power of corporate lobbying in the EU
Corporate capture at its most extreme: 98% of ECB advisors represent industry