ECB tells banks to prep for crisis and guarantee cash access

The ECB is telling banks and lenders across Europe to stop pretending everything’s fine and start prepping for the next crisis… ￰0￱ a paper released Wednesday the central bank said cash access must be guaranteed no matter what kind of chaos ￰1￱ weren’t vague about it ￰2￱ ECB said cash becomes way more important the moment things fall apart whether it’s a power grid failure pandemic

or tech ￰3￱ of the economists behind the paper Francesca Faella and Alejandro Zamora-Pérez looked at real events like the COVID lockdowns and the 2025 blackout that knocked out parts of Spain and Portugal and said it’s time the entire financial system

public and private keeps solid stockpiles of banknotes and bulletproof backup plans to move them ￰4￱ and Alejandro didn’t hold ￰5￱ said it’s about making the system “efficient and robust.” Full ￰6￱ wants households to hold cash for three days Here’s the part most people are going to ignore until it’s too late: the ECB is now supporting recommendations for every household in Europe to keep at least €70 to €100 in physical cash per ￰7￱ money is meant to cover basic stuff; food gas meds—for three days in case all digital systems go ￰8￱ just happened in Finland

which is now testing what they call “disruption-proof” ￰9￱ yeah this is happening while the ECB pushes its digital ￰10￱ contradiction isn’t going ￰11￱ are fewer ATMs and bank branches across the region even as the central bank insists people will still have “payment freedom.” The reality looks different and people are ￰12￱ in expectations due to tariffs.