–Lagarde Makes No Mention of Monetary Policy in Address to Frankfurt Banking Conference
By Laurie Laird
LONDON (MaceNews) – Up-and-coming European technology firms could greatly benefit from more extensive support from governments and from the private equity industry, according to the continent’s top central banker, outlining her views on the future of employment in a post-Covid world.
“Europe faces many challenges in the coming years arising from both the pandemic and from long-run trends … . It will be vital to harness the opportunities offered by new technologies,” said European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde in the keynote address to the online Frankfurt European Banking Conference on Friday. Ironically, a technological snafu delayed Ms Lagarde’s comments by approximately 20 minutes.
Both governments and private financial institutions can do more to foster the growth of technology companies, according to the ECB. “Equity financial has been shown to be an important complement to bank finance in allocating resources to new rather than traditional industries,” said Lagarde, noting that U.S. venture capital investment hit 0.63% of gross domestic product last year, compared to just 0.05% in the European Union, excluding Britain.
The ECB president also called for greater European cooperation to achieve scale in the technology industry, calling for a single EU data market. “We can achieve clear economies of scale by working together in Europe,” she said. “One reason the early-stage financing is lower in Europe is that national financial markets are fragmented.”
Lagarde made no mention of monetary policy in her address and took no questions from conference participants.
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Contact this reporter: laurie@macenews.com.
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