Draghi Is Member of ECB’s 100,000-Euro Club in Declarations

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Thirteen members of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council have at least 100,000 euros ($113,000) hoarded in deposits with a bank supervised by the Frankfurt institution.

Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, was among the officials who ticked a box on a Declaration of Interests form saying they have funds exceeding that amount in at least one bank. The documents, released on Monday in Frankfurt, are required by a revamped code of conduct.

The deposit tally was the only financial admission made by Draghi, who has no relevant holdings of companies or investment vehicles, according to the records. By contrast, some of his colleagues had much more to declare, with the most elaborate list by the new Belgian governor, Pierre Wunsch. He has interests in 13 separate funds and an investment plan, as well as shares in a couple of start-ups.

Among Draghi’s five colleagues on the Executive Board, Benoit Coeure, Yves Mersch, and Peter Praet all ticked the 100,000-euro box. Praet, Mersch and Vice President Luis de Guindos listed funds or stocks they had invested in.

Central bank governors from the region’s biggest economies all had something to declare. Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann didn’t tick the 100,000-euro box, but did reveal interests in two exchange-traded funds. Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco and the Bank of France’s Francois Villeroy de Galhau both met the deposit threshold. The Frenchman also holds shares in his family’s company, porcelain manufacturer Villeroy & Boch.

“The code strengthens and harmonizes the ethical conduct, compliance and transparency practices within the Eurosystem,” the Bank of Italy said in a statement marking the release of the documents.

Eleven members of the ECB’s supervisory board, which watches over European banks, have funds of 100,000 euros or more at a single lender. They also disclosed a wide range of holdings in stock, funds and debt securities. Ed Sibley, the Irish central bank’s representative, who worked for Bank of Ireland Group Plc until 2008, is “in the process of getting rid of” stock he received as part of a share ownership scheme. The stake is worth less than 500 euros, according to the declaration.

Other key insights:

• Chrystalla Georghadji, former governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, listed interests in two tranches of an Athena hedge fund, while successor Constantinos Herodotou has investments in 13 funds including passive and active managers
• Dutch central bank governor Klaas Knot listed an interest in an ABN Amro fund
• Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger received about 10,000 euros after tax and donations for being a member of the board of trustees of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach foundation
• Mersch’s three Luxembourg funds are primarily invested in equities, according to descriptions on Bloomberg
• Praet, the ECB’s chief economist, is invested in the central bank of Belgium, his home country
• Finnish central bank governor Olli Rehn is owner of Verkisto Oy, an unlisted communications and research firm with a capital base of 8,500 euros and is “not active”
• Mario Vella of the Central Bank of Malta counts Luxembourg-based funds run by the asset management arm of UBS Group AG among his investments
• Weidmann has two ETFs from Deutsche Bank AG’s asset management arm -- one that tracks Germany’s DAX as well as one on the MSCI World
• To access the declarations, click here (for the Governing Council) and here (for the supervisory board)

--With assistance from Chiara Albanese, William Horobin and Piotr Skolimowski.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Comfort in Frankfurt at ncomfort1@bloomberg.net;Craig Stirling in Frankfurt at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss

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