BNP Paribas expects the European Central Bank to start raising the deposit rate in September 2019. Luigi Speranza, head of European economics at BNP Paribas, says that formally the ECB's forward guidance on rate is only an expectation and not a commitment. In practice, however, BNP Paribas finds that it would be "extremely costly" for the ECB to surprise the markets with an earlier move. The ECB's meeting on July 25, 2019 would be a bit of a stretch as it falls in the middle of the summer and it's not a month for ECB staff forecasts either. BNP Paribas expects the deposit rate, currently at minus 0.40%, to end 2019 at minus 0.20% - Via WSJ.