EU chief backs call for faster bank fund

Michel Barnier, the European Union’s financial- services chief, has joined calls from the European Central Bank (ECB) for faster pooling of a planned euro-area fund to cover the costs of saving or shuttering banks.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that declining inflation expectations will prompt the ECB to cut its refinancing rate to 0.1% at its policy meeting tomorrow.

ECB president Mario Draghi would consider ending the sterilisation of crisis-era bond purchases if he’s openly backed by the Bundesbank, two euro-area central bank officials said, asking not to be identified. This would boost liquidity in the euro-area system.