Adjustments to the ECB’s capital subscription key due to EU enlargement

The European Central Bank today announces adjustments to its capital key and the contributions paid by the EU Member States’ national central banks (NCBs).

In line with Article 29 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, the NCBs’ shares in the ECB’s capital key are weighted according to the respective Member States’ shares in the total population and the gross domestic product of the European Union, in equal measure, as notified to the ECB by the European Commission. The weightings are adjusted every five years or whenever a new Member State joins the European Union. Accordingly, the ECB’s capital key has been changed today on account of Croatia joining the European Union and its national central bank, Hrvatska narodna banka, becoming a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

In accordance with Article 48.3 of the Statute, the ECB’s subscribed capital is automatically increased when a country joins the European Union and its NCB becomes a member of the ESCB. The increase is determined by multiplying the prevailing amount of subscribed capital (i.e. EUR 10,760,652,402.58) by the ratio, within the extended capital key, between the weight of the NCB joining and those of the NCBs that are already members. Therefore, today the subscribed capital of the ECB has been increased to EUR 10,825,007,069.61.

Eurosystem NCBs are required to pay up their subscribed capital in full. The 11 non-euro area NCBs (now including Hrvatska narodna banka) are required to pay up a small percentage of their share in the ECB’s subscribed capital (3.75% as at 29 December 2010) as a contribution to the operational costs of the ECB. The new shares of the NCBs in the ECB’s capital key are set out below.

The relevant ECB decisions are available on the ECB’s website and will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in due course.