Eurosystem

The national central banks are the only underwriters and stake holders of the capital of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Under the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the ECB received five billion euros of capital from the national central banks.

To determine the percentage share in the ECB's total capital, the procedure set out in Paragraph 1, Article 109 L of the Treaty was used, which establishes that each national central bank is assigned a weighted proportion in the capital that is the sum of:

• Fifty percent based on the share of the Member State in relation to the population of the Community the penultimate year before the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) was set up.
• Fifty percent based on the share of the Member State in relation to the gross domestic product of the Community, at market prices, recorded in the five years prior to the penultimate year before the ESCB was set up.

The percentages were rounded up to the closest multiple of 0.05 percentage points. These assigned weightings have been adjusted every five years since the ESCB was set up.

By virtue of the new entrants to the European Union (EU), since 1 January 2011, the issued capital of the ECB totals €10,760,652,402.58.

The part paid up by the national central banks of the euro area amounts to €5,196,932,289.36, distributed as follows:

The national central banks of the countries of the EU that do not belong to the euro area must pay up a minimum percentage of the issued capital as a contribution to the operating costs of the ECB based on their share in the ESCB.

Since 29 December 2010, these contributions have accounted for 3,75% of the capital subscribed by them and amount to €121,176,379.25, distributed as follows:

The national central banks of the countries not belonging to the euro area are not entitled to share in the distributable earnings of the ECB, nor are they liable for covering losses.