French governor says ECB could directly fund loans

The European Central Bank could start directly funding bank loans to eurozone businesses, the governor of the Banque de France said.

The ECB might have to emulate the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, François Villeroy de Galhau said in a speech in Paris on May 25.

“We are not at that stage yet – the euro area has a different institutional framework,” Villeroy de Galhau said. “But we should not necessarily exclude it in the future if it proves to be a lever needed to maintain the