ECB may decide QE end in June, up rates a year later - Lautenschlaeger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank could decide next month to end its bond-buying programme later year and then hike interest rates roughly a year later, ECB board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger said on Tuesday.

"June might be the month to decide once and for all to gradually end net asset purchases by the end of this year," Lautenschlaeger, a known policy hawk, told a university lecture.

"A first hike around the middle of 2019 is not entirely out of the ballpark," she added.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi)