The central institution of the European Monetary Union (EMU). The ECB was set up in 1998, with power to control interest rates from 1999 and to issue euro coins and notes from 2002. The ECB’s offices are in Frankfurt; it has an executive board of six members drawn from member countries of the EMU, and a supervisory board of these plus the central bankers of the nineteen EMU members.

http://www.ecb.int The home page of the European Central Bank.