The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) releases the following statement after the meeting of its Macroprudential Forum on 14 December 2016:

Cyclical systemic risks remain contained in most of the countries covered by ECB Banking Supervision and in the euro area as a whole, with the financial cycle slowly picking up. Deviations of credit to GDP from its long-term trend (“credit gaps”) remain negative in most countries although credit growth rates are recovering across the board, supporting the moderate but steady expansion of the euro area economy. The recovery in bank lending indicates a progressive strengthening of the banking sector, as also reflected in the improvement in the ECB’s bank lending survey indicators. There are limited signs that financial asset prices are stretched across financial markets, while the recent steepening of the yield curve has implied revaluations, especially in the bond market. In line with decisions that have been taken by national authorities, the Governing Council agreed that a broadly based increase in countercyclical capital buffers (CCyBs) across the euro area is not currently warranted.

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