European Central Bank under risk of crisis

Dow Jones reported this week that the European Central Bank faces a potential crisis of its own because of "skeleton" risks amounting to several hundreds of billions of euros on its balance sheet.

The report says that the bailed out countries of Greece, Ireland and Portugal but Spain as well have provided as collateral asset-backed securities that are unfit for central bank loans because they have such low or non-existent debt ratings.

Still, providing the collateral allowed the countries to receive more financial support, Dow Jones said.