EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK'S PRESIDENT: FINANCIAL CRISIS IS NOT OVER

Frankfurt, May 3 (Reuters)- The financial crisis is not over and the economic environment remains demanding, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Monday. Trichet added that the ECB would continue to separate its non-standard policy measures -liquidity injections and bond purchases- from its standard measures, such as its interest rates.

"We are still living in a very demanding environment. The crisis is not over," Trichet said at the official handover of the Bundesbank presidency to Jens Weidmann from Axel Weber.

"The Eurosystem has kept and will keep its sense of direction, strictly separating the standard measures, designed to deliver price stability, from the non-standard measures, designed to help restore a more correct monetary policy transmission mechanism," Trichet added.

The ECB holds a monetary policy meeting on Thursday and is expected to keep interest rates on hold at 1.25 percent.

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