London - At the height of the eurozone debt crisis in 2012, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi's problem was how to convince investors to hold on to European bonds. Now he faces a struggle to make them sell.
Weeks before the ECB begins a programme to buy about €1trn of eurozone government bonds, banks, pension funds and insurers across the continent are hoarding them for regulatory or accounting reasons.
That may complicate implementation of the quantitative easing programme, aimed at reviving growth and inflation in the eurozone. The ECB might have to pay way above market prices, or take additional measures to encourage investors to sell.