NASDAQ Careers: Find a Job Now Web NASDAQ.com
Search

ECB Tumpel-Gugerell: Major Banks Can Set New Tone For Sector



FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Major commercial banks can set a new tone for profit expectations and investment behavior in the financial sector, a high-ranking official of the European Central Bank said Friday.

"I think that major banks have indeed the ability" to influence the behavior of the whole sector, said ECB executive board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell.

She said that Deutsche Bundesbank President Axel Weber was right in saying that commercial banks should lower their profit expectations during times of low interest rates rather than take on extra risk to meet unrealistic targets. Weber made these comments during a banking conference earlier Friday.

She added, however, that it depended on share holders what leeway bank executives have.

ECB Web site: www.ecb.int

-By Roman Kessler, Dow Jones Newswires, +4969 2972 5514, roman.kessler@ dowjones.com


  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-20-090543ET
  Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

The Wall Street Journal
Click here for a free trial