It should be clear by now that there is no love lost between eurozone bankers and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi. Bankers may even be the only businesspeople in Europe who won’t shed a tear when the Italian leaves his job at the end of October.
The latest package of measures the ECB announced this month is unlikely to turn the banking industry into a Draghi fan club. The central bank remained unmoved by the growing chorus of bankers who are complaining the negative interest rates slapped on their overnight deposits since 2014 have been hurting their profits. Indeed, it even lowered its key rate from -0.4% to -0.5%.