In its latest financial stability review, the Bank said the euro area must do more to prepare its financial system for when the Fed scales back its bond-buying programme.
The ECB called for policymakers to ensure institutional investors were better prepared for a ‘normalisation’ of yields, as well as ‘stable and predictable’ macroeconomic policies from member states.
According to the report, the risks of a fallout from tapering for the eurozone have increased since May, despite an overall market improvement.
The ECB said: “Starting in May, there was a significant repricing in global bond markets, which took place largely because of changing monetary policy expectations in the United States.”
After Ben Bernanke’s initial suggestion in May the central bank would scale back QE, bond markets across the world fell sharply, especially in emerging markets.
Although the latest communication suggests the Fed is not ready to taper yet, some market analysts expect it to take action as early as December.
This decision could be driven by strong US labour market data due next week.
However economic data released on Wednesday was mixed, with the strong Chicago manufacturing index data offset by a fall in durable goods orders.
