European central bankers would like Greece to impose capital controls to stop the banking sector from hemorrhaging funds, a German newspaper reported Thursday, but the ECB denied any official discussions or proposals.
"The ECB Governing Council and the ECB banking supervisors would feel better if there were capital controls to prevent the hemorrhaging of the banks," an unnamed ECB source was quoted as telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
A spokesman for the Frankfurt-based ECB later told AFP that "there was no such discussion in the Governing Council" that met the previous evening.
The newspaper report said central bankers had recently been discussing why Greece had not yet introduced capital controls after more than 20 billion euros ($23 billion) had been withdrawn from Greek bank accounts since December.
A capital control regime -- which is allowed under EU rules and was used by Cyprus in early 2013 -- allows a government to limit cash withdrawals and overseas transfers and to restrict banks` business operations.
The ECB late last year assumed the supervisory role of European banks, in addition to its monetary policy mission.
The ECB Governing Council, made up of 19 eurozone central bank governors and the six members of the institution`s executive board, met on Wednesday in Frankfurt.
It decided to extend by two weeks emergency liquidity available to Greek banks and raised the ceiling to 68.3 billion euros from 65 billion euros previously.
Greece on Thursday formally asked the EU for a loan extension which would buy the cash-strapped nation time to unveil new anti-austerity reforms.
Europe and Greece are racing to reach a deal to avoid a Greek exit from the eurozone -- dubbed a "Grexit" -- after talks in Brussels ended in acrimony on Monday with both sides digging in their heels.
