ECB minutes leaked out for first time
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LONDON (MarketWatch) - The secret minutes from the European Central Bank meetings aren't so secret anymore.
The New York Times on Friday revealed it got hold of minutes from several governing council meetings leading up to the Cyprus bailout in March 2013, which usually are kept away from the public for decades. The secret minutes - dating from May 2012 to January 2013 - outlined a massive split in the council over how to tackle the Mediterranean nation's banking woes, with Germany, France and the Netherlands expressing concerns over providing aid to struggling lenders.
On Friday, shortly after the New York Times article hit the wires, the ECB issued a statement, insisting it had been united in the way it handled the financial crisis in Cyprus. However, there was one thing the ECB didn't address in its statement: exactly who made the leak.
Unlike the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB keeps its internal deliberations to itself for 30 years, so it has actually never published any minutes before and the reports leading up to the Cyprus crisis weren't meant for the public until 2042/2043. Until Friday, the central bank had been very good at keeping the minutes to approved eyes only - the leak to the New York Times is in fact the first ever.
So how did this happen? The ECB isn't providing any clues that can solve the mystery. And it could really come from a long list of people. Current governors, governors at the time and some staff members have access to internal documents and could potentially have passed them on.
The decision-making body at the ECB should have red faces, given the response on social media.
This leak of ECB minutes is a really big deal. They are not supposed to be released for 30 years - http://t.co/qnvsZxzPTH
- Ferdinando Giugliano (@FerdiGiugliano) October 17, 2014
Hey @ecb cray cray idea here, but maybe nobody would leak your minutes if you released your minutes?
- Mike Bird (@Birdyword) October 17, 2014
I guess the presumption has to be that the @ecb minutes came from the @bundesbank. So, what does @Mario_Draghi do when Buba goes rogue?
- Lorcan Roche Kelly (@LorcanRK) October 17, 2014
Seems maybe it wasn't the @bundesbank after all. Which would be a huge relief.
- Lorcan Roche Kelly (@LorcanRK) October 17, 2014
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