Extract:
The euro area’s central banks will disclose their first significant losses from a decade of money printing in the coming weeks, heralding a new era of scrutiny and the prospect of taxpayer bailouts.
When the European Central Bank reveals annual results on Thursday, officials are expected to warn of big shortfalls this year and next across the region as higher interest rates make the cost of servicing deposits built up through quantitative easing soar.
The ECB release will foreshadow a series of awkward national reports, with Germany’s Bundesbank potentially facing the biggest hit of all.