The European Central Bank’s Governing Council has adopted changes that will see banks’ excess reserves paid at the same rate from mid-June, while also setting out next steps on a digital euro pilot.
The council adopted Decision ECB/2026/10 on 26 March, legally implementing an earlier policy decision from 11 December 2025 to simplify how “excess reserves” are paid, the bank said on Monday.
Excess reserves — banks’ reserve holdings above the minimum required — will be remunerated at the deposit facility rate regardless of whether they are held in reserve accounts or placed in the deposit facility.
The new remuneration approach will apply from 17 June 2026, the start of the fourth maintenance period for 2026.
Digital euro pilot timetable and standards
An agreement setting out the roles and responsibilities of the ECB and participating national central banks during the digital euro pilot was approved on 10 April, alongside a template participation agreement for payment service providers that want to join the pilot, according to the same update.
The digital euro pilot is due to start in the second half of 2027, following an October 2025 decision to move to the next phase of the project.
The Governing Council also approved the first three participation agreements with standard-setting bodies on standards for digital euro online payments on 9 April, covering CPACE, nexo and Berlin Group standards.
Separately, the ECB said it imposed an administrative penalty of €6.2 million on BofA Securities Europe SA for wrongly calculated reporting of risk-weighted assets for market risk.
