E U RO P E A N C E N T R A L B A N K

THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO

JULy 2010

T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L RO L E O F T H E E U RO
J U Ly 2 010

THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO
J U LY 2010

In 2010 all ECB publications feature a motif taken from the €500 banknote.

© European Central Bank, 2010 Address Kaiserstrasse 29 60311 Frankfurt am Main Germany Postal address Postfach 16 03 19 60066 Frankfurt am Main Germany Telephone +49 69 1344 0 Website http://www.ecb.europa.eu Fax +49 69 1344 6000 All rights reserved. Reproduction for educational and non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged. As at 14 July 2010. ISSN 1725-6593 (online)

CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS FOREWORD 1 INTRODUCTION 2 MAIN FINDINGS 3 THE EURO IN GLOBAL MARKETS 3.1 The euro in international debt markets 3.2 The euro in international loan and deposit markets 3.3 The euro in foreign exchange and derivatives markets 3.4 The euro in international trade in goods and services 4 THE USE OF THE EURO IN COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE EURO AREA 4.1 Official use: the euro as anchor and reserve currency 4.2 Private use: the euro as a parallel currency 5 SPECIAL FEATURES 5.1 Excess returns on net foreign assets and international currencies 5.2 Constructing a summary indicator of the international role of the euro 5.3 How international is the euro? A brief reassessment of its role in global financial markets REFERENCES STATISTICAL ANNEX DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO PUBLISHED BY THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 6 7 9 11 15 15 20 22 25 CHARTS 29 29 2 35 45 3 45 4 55 5 58 65 S1 7 I 8 6 1 International (narrow) and global measures of outstanding international debt securities Stock of international debt securities (narrow measure): outstanding amounts and currency shares Outstanding volume of euro-denominated international bonds and notes by sector Outstanding volume of international bonds and notes by sector Outstanding volume of international bonds and