Draghi under pressure among gloomy economic prospects

Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The stars of the European Union sit on banners flying outside the headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, July 20, 2017.

Meet earlier than usual, so top policemen can attend the IMF's spring meeting in Washington DC this week is Investors are eager to understand more about the so-called two-tier system of bank reserves.

Draghi has already said that the ECB must decide whether to reduce the side effects of negative prices.

As such, an alternative under consideration is a tiered deposit rate. This is aimed at protecting banks against part of the cost due to negative prices – like movements by central banks in Switzerland and Japan.

The approach would mean that banks are exempted from paying the ECB's annual 0.40% surcharge on their excess reserves. This will increase the banks' profits at a time when many lenders are struggling with low profitability.

Some members of the Governing Council of the ECB are said to be for such a move.

However, future personnel changes at the ECB may risk delaying a discussion on a two-tier system and the likelihood of an interest rate rise over the coming months.

Together with ECB chief economist Peter Praet, Draghi is scheduled to go down in October, and policemen are believed to be reluctant to negotiate a fundamental revolution in monetary policy before new leaders take responsibility.