FRANKFURT, April 22 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is weighing up possible non-standard measures to boost the recession-hit euro zone, keeping in mind the key role the banking system plays in the region, a top policymaker said on Wednesday.
"The ECB has followed is own approach to non-standard measures and is considering further steps in this direction, taking into account the fact that the transmission mechanism in the euro area functions primarily via the banking system," ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark said in an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal.
Many ECB members have signalled they are unwilling to cut the bank's headline interest rate below 1.0 percent, not far off the current 1.25 percent. Policymakers are now looking at other options and the bank's President Jean-Claude Trichet has promised to lay out its plans next month.
(For full article please go the Wall Street Journal's website http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124034710319940279.html) (Reporting by Marc Jones and Mike Shields; Editing by Jan Dahinten)