Piero Cipollone

Cipollone received a degree in economics from Sapienza University of Rome in 1982 and a master’s degree in economics from Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry in 1992.⁠[2]

He served as an executive director at the World Bank Group from 2011 to 2014 and as deputy governor of the Banca d’Italia from 2020 to 2023.⁠[2]

Cipollone joined the European Central Bank’s Executive Board on November 1, 2023. His responsibilities include international and European relations, market infrastructure and payments, and banknotes; he chairs the Eurosystem’s high-level task force on the digital euro.⁠[1]

In an interview published October 24, he said a pilot involving real transactions by central bank staff was planned for 2027, with an issuance decision possible only after legislative negotiations conclude.⁠[3]

The European Council appointed Cipollone on October 17, 2023, to succeed Fabio Panetta from November 1. The appointment followed a Council recommendation and opinions from the ECB Governing Council and the European Parliament. Executive Board members serve non-renewable eight-year terms.⁠[4]

In a 2007 study with Alfonso Rosolia, Cipollone used a military-service exemption introduced in some areas after the 1980 southern Italian earthquake to compare high-school graduation rates. The authors also observed an increase among young women, who were not subject to the draft, and discussed possible peer effects.⁠[5]

In March 2026, Cipollone told the European Parliament that the planned pilot would test online and offline person-to-person and merchant payments at Eurosystem central bank premises, involving staff and selected merchants. He said issuance could only be considered after legislation was in place; the pilot instrument was not the digital euro defined in the proposed regulation.⁠[6]