Key for Subscription of the ECB’s Capital

Pursuant to Article 29 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the European Central Bank (ECB), the shares of the national central banks (NCBs) in the ECB’s capital key are weighted according to the shares of the NCBs’ Member States in the total population and gross domestic product of the EU, in equal measure, as notified to the ECB by the European Commission. These weightings are adjusted every five years and were last changed on 1 January 2004.

On 1 May 2004 the ECB’s capital key will be expanded, as ten new Member States will join the EU. The new shares of the NCBs in the capital key are set out on the next page.

In accordance with Article 49.3 of the Statute of the ESCB, which was added to the Statute by the Treaty of Accession, the ECB’s subscribed capital is automatically increased when a new Member State joins the EU and its NCB joins the ESCB. The increase is determined by multiplying the prevailing amount of subscribed capital (i.e. EUR 5,000 million) by the ratio, within the expanded capital key, between the weighting of the entering NCB(s) and the weighting of those NCBs that are already members of the ESCB. Therefore, on 1 May 2004 the subscribed capital of the ECB will be increased to EUR 5,564,669,247.19.

Eurosystem NCBs are required to pay up their subscribed capital in full. The 13 non-euro area NCBs (the ten new NCBs, Danmarks Nationalbank, Sveriges Riksbank and the Bank of England) are required to pay up a minimal percentage of their subscribed capital (7% as at 1 May 2004) as a contribution to the operational costs of the ECB.

The relevant ECB Decisions are available on the ECB’s website and will be published in due course in the Official Journal of the European Union.