ECB Governing Council decisions on digital euro, market operations, and financial stability in August-September 2026

During August and September 2026, the European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council made several key decisions and announcements.

On 30 July 2026, the ECB issued a press release detailing accessibility features of the digital euro app, which will exceed European Accessibility Act requirements, and announced usability and accessibility testing in 2027. The related documentation is available on the ECB’s website.

On 15 September 2026, the ECB called for expressions of interest from e-commerce and mobile commerce merchants in the euro area to participate in the digital euro pilot, with applications due by 27 October 2026. On 28 September 2026, a similar call was issued to private companies and organizations to explore digital euro infrastructure support, with a deadline of 9 November 2026.

The ECB reported on 23 September 2026 that nearly ten million people participated in a survey on the future design of euro banknotes, representing 2.6% of the euro area population. The next steps in the process are outlined on the ECB’s website.

Legal amendments to the Eurosystem monetary policy framework were adopted on 22 September 2026, effective from 30 November 2026, through Guideline ECB/2026/26 and Guideline ECB/2026/27, as detailed in the ECB’s press release.

In macroprudential policy, the ECB welcomed the review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) and responded to the European Commission’s consultation, with the response published on the ECB’s website on 7 September 2026.

Market infrastructure decisions included the appointment of Sigríður Dis Guðjónsdóttir to the Market Infrastructure Board on 30 July 2026, and the approval of the Pontes pilot project for settling tokenized assets in central bank money, with a scheduled launch on 21 September 2026. Additionally, the ECB adopted a decision on overseeing Visa Europe Payment System as a systemically important payment system on 24 August 2026.

The Governing Council also approved progress on interlinking TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) with other fast payment systems, including a feasibility assessment for linking with Brazil’s Pix system, on 24 September 2026.

Several opinions were adopted on 28 July, 12 August, 14 August, 19 August, 31 August, and 21 September 2026, covering topics such as Poland’s Defence Investment Fund, Ireland’s IMF participation, crypto-asset activity bans, staff conduct rules, supervisory independence, and credit institution mergers.

In corporate governance, the mandates of three Administrative Board of Review members were extended until 2029-2032. The Governing Council also approved the resignation of Ms. Isabel Schnabel from her ECB position to take a role at the IMF, with her resignation effective from 3 January 2027. The Ethics Committee confirmed no conflict of interest concerns.

Regarding statistics, amendments to balance sheet and interest rate statistics reporting were adopted on 11 September 2026, and the ECB did not object to a data protection arrangement for supervisory data processing on 30 July 2026. The ECB also published the results of its 2026 geopolitical risk reverse stress test and the 2025 whistleblowing activities report.

Finally, the ECB confirmed compliance with EBA guidelines on default definitions and approved delegation frameworks for recovery plan assessments and rating system decisions.