Asymmetries, imbalances and fragmentation in the eurozone

The euro area's imbalances are built into its infrastructure. This project traces them to the plumbing, CCPs, CSDs, the ECB and the national central banks, and to the link between monetary integration and the financialisation of the member economies. Three empirical pillars, built on official datasets that are largely unused.

TARGET2 balances by national central bank, end of period, 2008 to 2023. — TARGET2 balances, end of period.Full size

Monetary hierarchies in the EMU

Jurisdictions are tiered and legacy euros persist. TARGET is the backstop that holds the tiering together.

Euro-denominated liabilities to non-euro-area residents, by central bank, 2016 to 2021. — Euro liabilities outside the euro area.Full size

Fragmentation and selective integration

Money markets fragment even with liquidity in excess. The shortage that binds is collateral.

Origin of government collateral used by euro-area banks in secured transactions, domestic versus non-domestic, by reporting agent, 2018 to 2020. — Origin of collateral in secured transactions.Full size

Capital and liquidity in hybrid refinancing

Where TARGET balances actually come from, and how the hybrid working of the mechanism produces them.

Italy's cumulative balance of payments decomposed by component against its TARGET2 balance, 2008 to 2021. — Italy: balance of payments and TARGET balances, cumulative flows.Full size

Related publications

Giordano, M. (2025). Tiered Euro-Monies: Perpetrating Monetary Hierarchies from the ECU to the Euro. Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, 6: 565–587. DOI
Murau, S., Goghie, A. and Giordano, M. (2025). Encumbered Security? Vertical and Horizontal Repos in the Euro Area and Their Inherent Ambiguity. Journal of Financial Regulation, 11(2). DOI
Murau, S. and Giordano, M. (2024). Forging Monetary Unification through Novation: The TARGET System and the Politics of Central Banking in Europe. Socio-Economic Review, 22(3): 1283–1312. DOI