European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said the time is right for an interest-rate cut next month.

“I believe we have the conditions for a change in monetary policy” at the June 6 decision, Panetta told reporters in Stresa, Italy. “We have our mantra of deciding meeting by meeting, but I do believe that the consensus has widened, and that even those who had more doubts are coming round” to agreement on a reduction, he said.

A lowering of borrowing costs in the ECB’s next meeting has been broadly telegraphed. Most officials have stayed silent on what happens after that, though hawkish policymakers Joachim Nagel and Isabel Schnabel have already said they don’t want another move in July.

Asked whether Group of Seven officials discussed the state of lenders at the current juncture, Panetta said that “what we see today in Italy and Europe is a healthy banking system with good capitalisation.”

  - Bloomberg