Why the ECB is not to blame for low interest rates

摘要

In the latest set of EU stress tests, several German lenders performed poorly. As Markus Demary writes, some of this performance has been blamed on low interest rates squeezing the profitability of lenders. He argues that while the ECB has frequently been blamed for this situation, the reality is more complex and instead reflects long-term trends which can only be addressed by lasting structural reforms.