This study investigates the influence of the European Central Bank (ECB) on the macroeconomic performance of the Eurozone, utilizing the Monetary Policy Shocks data from Altavilla et al. (2019). The research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the ECB's monetary policy in conjunction with fundamental banking characteristics, exploring potential variations in monetary policy transmission via the retail banking system. The baseline results indicate that a contractionary Monetary Policy Shock (3-month OIS yield) leads to a 0.2 percentage point decrease in the inflation rate of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) one year later. Additionally, twelve months after a brief shock, the retail growth rate drops by 0.3 percentage points, with the impact dissipating after twenty months. A year following a Short-Term Monetary Policy Shock, the unemployment rate rises by 0.1 percentage points. Analysis across different banking groups reveals that the effectiveness of Monetary Policy Transmission depends on specific bank characteristics. Banking systems with higher profitability and bargaining power, poor capitalization, more expensive funding, or greater risk exposure exhibit a more pronounced pass-through of monetary policy into the economy. These findings are corroborated by a robustness check analysis using the Romer and Romer (2004) methodology as Monetary Policy Shocks.

