FRANKFURT—The European Central Bank’s chief economist made dozens of private calls to banks and investors after policy meetings this year, an unusual attempt to buttress the central bank’s sometimes-puzzling public communications, according to three people with whom he spoke and a review of his schedule.
The calls began in March, after ECB President Christine Lagarde flummoxed traders by suggesting at a news conference that the central bank wouldn’t prop up Italy’s bond market. Italian stocks and bonds slumped. Hours later, Philip Lane, the chief economist, placed separate calls to 11 banks and investors in which he sought to clarify the message.
Former central bank officials said the calls risked privileging big investors with sensitive information. Typically, central bankers carefully control their utterances and try to make sure all market participants get information at the same time. Public diaries show that neither Ms. Lagarde’s predecessor, Mario Draghi, nor his chief economist, Peter Praet, made similar calls during their last two years in office.
In 2015, the ECB tightened its communication rules after a board member gave a closed-door speech to investors at a dinner that revealed changes to its bond-buying program.
“You don’t just pick up the phone and talk to the select few,” said Panicos Demetriades, a former member of the ECB’s rate-setting committee as head of Cyprus’s central bank. “Talking only to the big players is what you’re not supposed to be doing as the central bank. It’s not helpful for relations with the public.”
