Guideline of the European Central Bank of 31 August 2006 amending Guideline ECB/2000/7 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem (ECB/2006/12) (2006/905/EC)
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Address https://gelex.eu/eli/EU/act/o/2006/12@2006-08-31/en
Contents
- Preamble
- ANNEX
- ANNEX
- The implementation of monetary policy in the euro area — General documentation on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures
- pt_144
- Table 6 Liquidity categories for marketable assets
- Table 7 Levels of valuation haircuts applied to eligible marketable assets in relation to fixed coupon and zero coupon instruments
- Table 8 Levels of valuation haircuts applied to eligible marketable inverse floating rate debt instruments
- ANNEX 1 Table 2: Earmarking system Table 3: Pooling system EXAMPLES OF MONETARY POLICY OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES
- EXAMPLE 1 Liquidity-providing reverse transaction by fixed rate tender
- EXAMPLE 2 Liquidity-providing reverse transaction by variable rate tender
- EXAMPLE 3 Issuance of ecb debt certificates by variable rate tender
- EXAMPLE 4 Liquidity-absorbing foreign exchange swap by variable rate tender
- EXAMPLE 5 Liquidity-providing foreign exchange swap by variable rate tender
- EXAMPLE 6 Risk control measures
- Table 1 Underlying marketable assets used in the transactions
- Earmarking system
- Pooling system
- ANNEX 2 GLOSSARY
- ANNEX 3 SELECTION OF COUNTERPARTIES FOR FOREIGN EXCHANGE INTERVENTION OPERATIONS AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE SWAPS FOR MONETARY POLICY PURPOSES
- ANNEX 4 REPORTING FRAMEWORK FOR THE MONEY AND BANKING STATISTICS OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
- 5. Table 1a 9.1111 Simplified reporting of data required for minimum reserve requirements
- 5.
- Table 1 Data required to be provided at monthly frequency (stocks)
- ANNEX 5 THE EUROSYSTEM WEBSITES
- ANNEX 6 PROCEDURES AND SANCTIONS TO BE APPLIED IN THE EVENT OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH COUNTERPARTY OBLIGATIONS
- 1.
- 2.
- 2.1.
- ANNEX 7 CREATION OF VALID SECURITY OVER CREDIT CLAIMS
- pt_2 a)
THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular to the first indent of Article 105(2),
Having regard to the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank and in particular Article 12.1 and Article 14.3 in conjunction with the first indent of Article 3.1, Article 18.2 and the first paragraph of Article 20,
Whereas:
(1) Achieving a single monetary policy entails defining the instruments and procedures to be used by the Eurosystem, consisting of the national central banks (NCBs) of Member States that have adopted the euro (hereinafter the participating Member States) and the European Central Bank (ECB), in order to implement such policy in a uniform manner throughout the participating Member States.
(2) The ECB has the authority to establish the necessary guidelines to implement the Eurosystem’s single monetary policy and the NCBs have an obligation to act in accordance with such guidelines.
(3) Recent changes to the definition and implementation of the Eurosystem’s single monetary policy, in particular the introduction of non-marketable assets in the single list of collateral eligible for Eurosystem credit operations, need to be reflected appropriately by replacing Annex I to the ECB Guideline on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem that is currently in force,
HAS ADOPTED THIS GUIDELINE:
Article 1 Principles, instruments, procedures and criteria for the implementation of theEurosystem’s single monetary policy
Annex I to Guideline ECB/2000/7 of 31 August 2000 on monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Guideline.
Article 2 Verification
The NCBs shall forward details of the texts and means by which they intend to comply with this Guideline to the ECB by 20 September 2006 at the latest.
Article 3 Entry into force
This Guideline shall enter into force two days after its adoption. Article 1 shall apply from 1 January 2007.
Article 4 Addressees
This Guideline is addressed to the NCBs of participating Member States.
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 31 August 2006. For the Governing Council of the ECB The President of the ECB Jean-Claude Trichet
ANNEX
ANNEX
The implementation of monetary policy in the euro area — General documentation on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures
CCBM correspondent central banking model CET Central European Time CIs credit institutions CRD Capital Requirements Directive CSD central securities depository EC European Community ECAF Eurosystem credit assessment framework ECAI external credit assessment institution ECB European Central Bank EEA European Economic Area EEC European Economic Community ESA 95 European System of Accounts 1995 ESCB European System of Central Banks EU European Union ICAS in-house credit assessment system ICSD international central securities depository IDC intraday credit IRB internal ratings-based system ISIN International Securities Identification Number MFI monetary financial institution MMF money market fund NCB national central bank PD probability of default PSE public sector entity RMBD retail mortgage-backed debt instrument RoW rest of the world RT rating tool RTGS real-time gross settlement SSS securities settlement system TARGET Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system UCITS undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities This document presents the operational framework chosen by the Eurosystem for the single monetary policy in the euro area. The document, which forms part of the Eurosystem’s legal framework for monetary policy instruments and procedures, is intended to serve as the General Documentation on the monetary policy instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem, and is aimed, in particular, at providing counterparties with the information they need in relation to the Eurosystem’s monetary policy framework. The General Documentation in itself neither confers rights nor imposes obligations on counterparties. The legal relationship between the Eurosystem and its counterparties is established in appropriate contractual or regulatory arrangements. This document is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the operational framework for the monetary policy of the Eurosystem. In Chapter 2, eligibility criteria for counterparties taking part in Eurosystem monetary policy operations are specified. Chapter 3 describes open market operations, while Chapter 4 presents the standing facilities available to counterparties. Chapter 5 specifies procedures applied in the execution of monetary policy operations. In Chapter 6, the eligibility criteria for underlying assets in monetary policy operations are defined. Chapter 7 presents the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system. The annexes contain examples of monetary policy operations, a glossary, criteria for the selection of counterparties for Eurosystem foreign exchange intervention operations, a presentation of the reporting framework for the money and banking statistics of the European Central Bank, a list of the Eurosystem websites, a description of the procedures and sanctions to be applied in the event of non-compliance with counterparty obligations and additional legal requirements for the creation of valid security over credit claims when these are used as collateral with the Eurosystem. The European System of Central Banks The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) consists of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks of the European Union (EU) Member States. The activities of the ESCB are carried out in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community (Treaty) and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (Statute of the ESCB). The ESCB is governed by the decision-making bodies of the ECB. In this respect, the Governing Council of the ECB is responsible for the formulation of monetary policy, while the Executive Board is empowered to implement monetary policy according to the decisions made and guidelines laid down by the Governing Council. To the extent deemed possible and appropriate and with a view to ensuring operational efficiency, the ECB has recourse to the national central banks for carrying out the operations which form part of the tasks of the Eurosystem. The Eurosystem’s monetary policy operations are executed under uniform terms and conditions in all Member States. Objectives of the Eurosystem The primary objective of the Eurosystem is to maintain price stability, as defined in Article 105 of the Treaty. Without prejudice to the primary objective of price stability, the Eurosystem has to support the general economic policies in the European Community. In pursuing its objectives, the Eurosystem has to act in accordance with the principle of an open market economy with free competition, favouring an efficient allocation of resources. Eurosystem monetary policy instruments In order to achieve its objectives, the Eurosystem has at its disposal a set of monetary policy instruments; the Eurosystem conducts open market operations, offers standing facilities and requires credit institutions to hold minimum reserves on accounts with the Eurosystem. Open market operations Open market operations play an important role in the monetary policy of the Eurosystem for the purposes of steering interest rates, managing the liquidity situation in the market and signalling the stance of monetary policy. Five types of instruments are available to the Eurosystem for the conduct of open market operations. The most important instrument is the reverse transaction (applicable on the basis of repurchase agreements or collateralised loans). The Eurosystem may also use outright transactions, the issuance of debt certificates, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits. Open market operations are initiated by the ECB, which also decides on the instrument to be used and on the terms and conditions for its execution. They can be executed on the basis of standard tenders, quick tenders or bilateral procedures. With regard to their aims, regularity and procedures, the Eurosystem’s open market operations can be divided into the following four categories (see also Table 1): Monetary policy operations Types of transactions Maturity Frequency Procedure Provision of liquidity Absorption of liquidity Open market operations Main refinancing operations Reverse transactions - One week Weekly Standard tenders Longer-term refinancing operations Reverse transactions - Three months Monthly Standard tenders Fine-tuning operations Reverse transactions Foreign exchange swaps Reverse transactions Collection of fixed-term deposits Foreign exchange swaps Non-standardised Non-regular Quick tenders Bilateral procedures Outright purchases Outright sales - Non-regular Bilateral procedures Structural operations Reverse transactions Issuance of debt certificates Standardised/non-standardised Regular and non-regular Standard tenders Outright purchases Outright sales - Non-regular Bilateral procedures Standing facilities Marginal lending facility Reverse transactions - Overnight Access at the discretion of counterparties Deposit facility - Deposits Overnight Access at the discretion of counterparties
The main refinancing operations are regular liquidity-providing reverse transactions with a weekly frequency and a maturity of normally one week. These operations are executed by the national central banks on the basis of standard tenders. The main refinancing operations play a pivotal role in pursuing the objectives of the Eurosystem’s open market operations and provide the bulk of refinancing to the financial sector.
The longer-term refinancing operations are liquidity-providing reverse transactions with a monthly frequency and a maturity of normally three months. These operations are aimed at providing counterparties with additional longer-term refinancing and are executed by the national central banks on the basis of standard tenders. In these operations, the Eurosystem does not, as a rule, intend to send signals to the market and therefore normally acts as a rate taker.
Fine-tuning operations are executed on an ad hoc basis with the aim of managing the liquidity situation in the market and steering interest rates, in particular in order to smooth the effects on interest rates caused by unexpected liquidity fluctuations in the market. Fine-tuning operations are primarily executed as reverse transactions, but can also take the form of outright transactions, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits. The instruments and procedures applied in the conduct of fine-tuning operations are adapted to the types of transactions and the specific objectives pursued in the operations. Fine-tuning operations are normally executed by the national central banks through quick tenders or bilateral procedures. The Governing Council of the ECB can decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, fine-tuning bilateral operations may be executed by the ECB itself.
In addition, the Eurosystem may carry out structural operations through the issuance of debt certificates, reverse transactions and outright transactions. These operations are executed whenever the ECB wishes to adjust the structural position of the Eurosystem vis-à-vis the financial sector (on a regular or non-regular basis). Structural operations in the form of reverse transactions and the issuance of debt instruments are carried out by the national central banks through standard tenders. Structural operations in the form of outright transactions are executed through bilateral procedures.
Standing facilities Standing facilities are aimed at providing and absorbing overnight liquidity, signal the general stance of monetary policy and bound overnight market interest rates. Two standing facilities are available to eligible counterparties on their own initiative, subject to their fulfilment of certain operational access conditions (see also Table 1):
Counterparties can use the marginal lending facility to obtain overnight liquidity from the national central banks against eligible assets. Under normal circumstances, there are no credit limits or other restrictions on counterparties’ access to the facility, apart from the requirement to present sufficient underlying assets. The interest rate on the marginal lending facility normally provides a ceiling for the overnight market interest rate.
Counterparties can use the deposit facility to make overnight deposits with the national central banks. Under normal circumstances, there are no deposit limits or other restrictions on counterparties’ access to the facility. The interest rate on the deposit facility normally provides a floor for the overnight market interest rate.
The standing facilities are administered in a decentralised manner by the national central banks. Minimum reserves The Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system applies to credit institutions in the euro area and primarily pursues the aims of stabilising money market interest rates and creating (or enlarging) a structural liquidity shortage. The reserve requirement of each institution is determined in relation to elements of its balance sheet. In order to pursue the aim of stabilising interest rates, the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system enables institutions to make use of averaging provisions. Compliance with the reserve requirement is determined on the basis of the institutions’ average daily reserve holdings over the maintenance period. Institutions’ holdings of required reserves are remunerated at the rate of the Eurosystem’s main refinancing operations. Counterparties The Eurosystem’s monetary policy framework is formulated with a view to ensuring the participation of a broad range of counterparties. Institutions subject to minimum reserve requirements according to Article 19.1 of the Statute of the ESCB may access the standing facilities and participate in open market operations based on standard tenders. The Eurosystem may select a limited number of counterparties to participate in fine-tuning operations. For outright transactions, no restrictions are placed a priori on the range of counterparties. For foreign exchange swaps conducted for monetary policy purposes, active players in the foreign exchange market are used. The set of counterparties for these operations is limited to those institutions selected for Eurosystem foreign exchange intervention operations which are located in the euro area. Underlying assets Pursuant to Article 18.1 of the Statute of the ESCB, all Eurosystem credit operations (i.e. liquidity-providing monetary policy operations and intraday credit) have to be based on adequate collateral. The Eurosystem accepts a wide range of assets to underlie its operations. The Eurosystem has developed a single framework for eligible collateral common to all Eurosystem credit operations (also referred to as the Single List). On 1 January 2007, this single framework will replace the two-tier system that has been in place since the start of Economic and Monetary Union. The single framework covers marketable and non-marketable assets that fulfil uniform euro area-wide eligibility criteria specified by the Eurosystem. No distinction is made between marketable and non-marketable assets with regard to the quality of the assets and their eligibility for the various types of Eurosystem monetary policy operations, except that non-marketable assets are not used by the Eurosystem for outright transactions. All eligible assets may be used on a cross-border basis by means of the correspondent central banking model (CCBM) and, in the case of marketable assets, through eligible links between EU securities settlement systems (SSSs). Modifications to the monetary policy framework The Governing Council of the ECB may, at any time, change the instruments, conditions, criteria and procedures for the execution of Eurosystem monetary policy operations. General eligibility criteria Counterparties for Eurosystem monetary policy operations must fulfil certain eligibility criteria. These criteria are defined with a view to giving a broad range of institutions access to Eurosystem monetary policy operations, enhancing equal treatment of institutions across the euro area and ensuring that counterparties fulfil certain operational and prudential requirements:
Only institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system according to Article 19.1 of the Statute of the ESCB are eligible to be counterparties. Institutions which are exempt from their obligations under the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system (see Section 7.2) are not eligible to be counterparties to Eurosystem standing facilities and open market operations.
Counterparties must be financially sound. They should be subject to at least one form of harmonised EU/EEA supervision by national authorities. However, financially sound institutions subject to non-harmonised national supervision of a comparable standard can also be accepted as counterparties, e.g. branches established in the euro area of institutions that have their head office outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Counterparties must fulfil any operational criteria specified in the relevant contractual or regulatory arrangements applied by the respective national central bank (or the ECB), so as to ensure the efficient conduct of Eurosystem monetary policy operations.
These general eligibility criteria are uniform throughout the euro area. Institutions fulfilling the general eligibility criteria may:
access the Eurosystem’s standing facilities; and
participate in Eurosystem open market operations that are based on standard tenders.
An institution may access the Eurosystem’s standing facilities and open market operations based on standard tenders only through the national central bank of the Member State in which it is established. If an institution has establishments (its head office or branches) in more than one Member State, each establishment has access to these operations through the national central bank of the Member State in which it is located, notwithstanding the fact that the bids of an institution may only be submitted by one establishment (either the head office or a designated branch) in each Member State. Selection of counterparties for quick tenders and bilateral operations For outright transactions, no restrictions are placed a priori on the range of counterparties. For foreign exchange swaps executed for monetary policy purposes, counterparties must be able to conduct large-volume foreign exchange operations efficiently under all market conditions. The range of counterparties to foreign exchange swaps corresponds to the counterparties located in the euro area which are selected for Eurosystem foreign exchange intervention operations. The criteria and procedures applied for the selection of counterparties to foreign exchange intervention operations are presented in Annex 3. For other operations based on quick tenders and bilateral procedures (fine-tuning reverse transactions and the collection of fixed-term deposits), each national central bank selects a set of counterparties from among the institutions established in its Member State which fulfil the general counterparty eligibility criteria. In this respect, activity in the money market is the prime selection criterion. Other criteria which might be taken into account are, for example, the efficiency of the trading desk and the bidding potential. In quick tenders and bilateral operations, the national central banks deal exclusively with the counterparties which are included in their respective set of fine-tuning counterparties. If, for operational reasons, a national central bank cannot deal in each operation with all of its fine-tuning counterparties, the selection of counterparties in this Member State will be based on a rotation scheme in order to ensure equitable access. The Governing Council of the ECB can decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, fine-tuning bilateral operations may be carried out by the ECB itself. If the ECB were to carry out bilateral operations, the selection of counterparties would in such cases be made by the ECB according to a rotation scheme among those counterparties in the euro area which are eligible for quick tenders and bilateral operations in order to ensure equitable access. Sanctions in the event of non-compliance with counterparty obligations The ECB shall impose sanctions, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 2532/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions, European Central Bank Regulation (EC) No 2157/1999 of 23 September 1999 on the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions (ECB/1999/4), Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves by the European Central Bank, as amended, and Regulation (EC) No 1745/2003 of the European Central Bank of 12 September 2003 on the application of minimum reserves (ECB/2003/9), on institutions which do not comply with obligations arising from ECB Regulations and Decisions relating to the application of minimum reserves. The relevant sanctions and the procedural rules for their application are specified in the above-mentioned Regulations. In addition, in the case of serious infringements of the minimum reserve requirements, the Eurosystem may suspend counterparties’ participation in open market operations. In accordance with the provisions of the contractual or regulatory arrangements applied by the respective national central bank (or by the ECB), the Eurosystem can and will impose financial penalties on counterparties, or suspend counterparties’ participation in open market operations, if counterparties fail to comply with their obligations under the contractual or regulatory arrangements applied by the national central banks (or by the ECB) as set out below. This relates to cases of infringement of tender rules (if a counterparty is unable to transfer a sufficient amount of underlying assets to settle the amount of liquidity it has been allotted in a liquidity-providing operation, or if it is unable to deliver a sufficient amount of cash to settle the amount it has been allotted in a liquidity-absorbing operation), and of bilateral transaction rules (if a counterparty is unable to deliver a sufficient amount of eligible underlying assets, or if it is unable to deliver a sufficient amount of cash to settle the amount agreed in bilateral transactions). This also applies to cases of non-compliance by a counterparty with the rules for the use of underlying assets (if a counterparty is using assets which are or have become ineligible, or which may not be used by the counterparty, e.g. owing to close links between, or the identity of, issuer/guarantor and counterparty), and to non-compliance with the rules for end-of-day procedures and access conditions for the marginal lending facility (if a counterparty which has a negative balance on the settlement account at the end of the day does not fulfil the access conditions for the marginal lending facility). In addition, a suspension measure taken vis-à-vis a non-complying counterparty may be applied to branches of the same institution located in other Member States. Where, as an exceptional measure, this is required on account of the seriousness of a case of non-compliance, as evidenced by its frequency or duration, for instance, a counterparty may be suspended from all future monetary policy operations for a certain period of time. Financial penalties imposed by national central banks in the event of non-compliance in relation to a breach of the rules concerning tender operations, bilateral transactions, underlying assets, end-of-day procedures or the access conditions to the marginal lending facility are calculated at a pre-specified penalty rate (as set out in Annex 6). Suspension or exclusion on grounds of prudence In accordance with the provisions in the contractual or regulatory arrangements applied by the respective national central bank (or by the ECB), the Eurosystem may suspend or exclude counterparties’ access to monetary policy instruments on the grounds of prudence. In addition, a suspension or exclusion of counterparties may be warranted in some of the cases which fall within the notion of the default of a counterparty as defined in the contractual or regulatory arrangements applied by the national central banks. Open market operations play an important role in the Eurosystem’s monetary policy. They are used for steering interest rates, managing the liquidity situation in the market and signalling the stance of monetary policy. With regard to their aims, regularity and procedures, Eurosystem open market operations can be divided into four categories: main refinancing operations, longer-term refinancing operations, fine-tuning operations and structural operations. As for the instruments used, reverse transactions are the main open market instrument of the Eurosystem and can be employed in all four categories of operations, whereas debt certificates may be used for structural absorption operations. In addition, the Eurosystem has three other instruments available for the conduct of fine-tuning operations: outright transactions, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits. In the following sections, specific features of the different types of open market instruments used by the Eurosystem are presented in detail. Reverse transactions General considerations Reverse transactions refer to operations where the Eurosystem buys or sells eligible assets under repurchase agreements or conducts credit operations against eligible assets as collateral. Reverse transactions are used for main refinancing operations and longer-term refinancing operations. In addition, the Eurosystem can use reverse transactions for structural and fine-tuning operations. The national central banks may execute reverse transactions either in the form of repurchase agreements (i.e. the ownership of the asset is transferred to the creditor, while the parties agree to reverse the transaction through a re-transfer of the asset to the debtor at a future point in time) or as collateralised loans (i.e. an enforceable security interest is provided over the assets but, assuming fulfilment of the debt obligation, the ownership of the asset is retained by the debtor). Further provisions for reverse transactions based on repurchase agreements are specified in the contractual arrangements applied by the respective national central bank (or the ECB). Arrangements for reverse transactions based on collateralised loans take account of the different procedures and formalities required to enable the establishment and subsequent realisation of a relevant interest in the collateral (e.g. a pledge, an assignment or a charge) which apply in different jurisdictions. The difference between the purchase price and the repurchase price in a repurchase agreement corresponds to the interest due on the amount of money borrowed or lent over the maturity of the operation, i.e. the repurchase price includes the respective interest to be paid. The interest rate on a reverse transaction in the form of a collateralised loan is determined by applying the specified interest rate on the credit amount over the maturity of the operation. The interest rate applied to Eurosystem reverse open market operations is a simple interest rate based on the day-count convention actual/360. Main refinancing operations The main refinancing operations are the most important open market operations conducted by the Eurosystem, playing a pivotal role in pursuing the aims of steering interest rates, managing the liquidity situation in the market and signalling the stance of monetary policy. They also provide the bulk of refinancing to the financial sector. The operational features of the main refinancing operations can be summarised as follows:
they are liquidity-providing reverse operations;
they are executed regularly each week;
they normally have a maturity of one week;
they are executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks;
they are executed through standard tenders (as specified in Section 5.1);
all counterparties fulfilling the general eligibility criteria (as specified in Section 2.1) may submit bids for the main refinancing operations; and
marketable and non-marketable assets (as specified in Chapter 6) are eligible as underlying assets for the main refinancing operations.
Longer-term refinancing operations The Eurosystem also executes regular refinancing operations, normally with a three-month maturity, which are aimed at providing additional longer-term refinancing to the financial sector. These operations represent only a small part of the global refinancing volume. In these operations, the Eurosystem does not, as a rule, intend to send signals to the market and therefore normally acts as a rate taker. Accordingly, longer-term refinancing operations are usually executed in the form of variable rate tenders and, from time to time, the ECB indicates the operation volume to be allotted in forthcoming tenders. Under exceptional circumstances, the Eurosystem may also execute longer-term refinancing operations through fixed rate tenders. The operational features of the longer-term refinancing operations can be summarised as follows:
they are liquidity-providing reverse operations;
they are executed regularly each month;
they normally have a maturity of three months;
they are executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks;
they are executed through standard tenders (as specified in Section 5.1);
all counterparties fulfilling the general eligibility criteria (as specified in Section 2.1) may submit bids for the longer-term refinancing operations; and
marketable and non-marketable assets (as specified in Chapter 6) are eligible as underlying assets for the longer-term refinancing operations.
Fine-tuning reverse operations The Eurosystem can execute fine-tuning operations in the form of reverse open market transactions. Fine-tuning operations aim to manage the liquidity situation in the market and to steer interest rates, in particular in order to smooth the effects on interest rates caused by unexpected liquidity fluctuations in the market. The potential need for rapid action in the case of unexpected market developments makes it desirable to retain a high degree of flexibility in the choice of procedures and operational features in the conduct of these operations. The operational features of the fine-tuning reverse operations can be summarised as follows:
they can take the form of liquidity-providing or liquidity-absorbing operations;
their frequency is not standardised;
their maturity is not standardised;
liquidity-providing fine-tuning reverse transactions are normally executed through quick tenders, although the possibility of using bilateral procedures is not excluded (see Chapter 5);
liquidity-absorbing fine-tuning reverse transactions are executed, as a rule, through bilateral procedures (as specified in Section 5.2);
these operations are normally executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks (the Governing Council of the ECB can decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, bilateral fine-tuning reverse operations may be executed by the ECB);
the Eurosystem may select, according to the criteria specified in Section 2.2, a limited number of counterparties to participate in fine-tuning reverse operations; and
marketable and non-marketable assets (as specified in Chapter 6) are eligible as underlying assets for fine-tuning reverse operations.
Structural reverse operations The Eurosystem may execute structural operations in the form of reverse open market transactions aimed at adjusting the structural position of the Eurosystem vis-à-vis the financial sector. The operational features of these operations can be summarised as follows:
they are liquidity-providing operations;
their frequency can be regular or non-regular;
their maturity is not standardised a priori;
they are executed through standard tenders (as specified in Section 5.1);
they are executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks;
all counterparties fulfilling the general eligibility criteria (as specified in Section 2.1) may submit bids for structural reverse operations; and
marketable and non-marketable assets (as specified in Chapter 6) are eligible as underlying assets for structural reverse operations.
Outright transactions Outright open market transactions refer to operations where the Eurosystem buys or sells eligible assets outright on the market. Such operations are executed only for structural and fine-tuning purposes. An outright transaction implies a full transfer of ownership from the seller to the buyer with no connected reverse transfer of ownership. The transactions are executed in accordance with the market conventions for the debt instrument used in the transaction. In the calculation of prices, the Eurosystem acts in accordance with the most widely accepted market convention for the debt instruments used in the transaction. The operational features of Eurosystem outright transactions can be summarised as follows:
they can take the form of liquidity-providing (outright purchase) or liquidity-absorbing (outright sale) operations;
their frequency is not standardised;
they are executed through bilateral procedures (as specified in Section 5.2);
they are normally executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks (the Governing Council of the ECB can decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, fine-tuning outright operations may be executed by the ECB);
no restrictions are placed a priori on the range of counterparties to outright transactions; and
only marketable assets (as specified in Chapter 6) are used as underlying assets in outright transactions.
Issuance of ECB debt certificates The ECB may issue debt certificates with the aim of adjusting the structural position of the Eurosystem vis-à-vis the financial sector so as to create (or enlarge) a liquidity shortage in the market. The certificates constitute a debt obligation of the ECB vis-à-vis the holder of the certificate. The certificates are issued and held in book-entry form in securities depositories in the euro area. The ECB does not impose any restrictions on the transferability of the certificates. Further provisions related to ECB debt certificates will be contained in the terms and conditions for such certificates. The certificates are issued at a discount, i.e. they are issued at below the nominal amount and are redeemed at maturity at the nominal amount. The difference between the issue amount and the redemption amount equals the interest accrued on the issue amount, at the agreed interest rate, over the maturity of the certificate. The interest rate applied is a simple interest rate based on the day-count convention actual/360. The calculation of the issue amount is shown in Box 1. The operational features of the issuance of ECB debt certificates can be summarised as follows:
the certificates are issued in order to absorb liquidity from the market;
the certificates can be issued on a regular or non-regular basis;
the certificates have a maturity of less than 12 months;
the certificates are issued through standard tenders (as specified in Section 5.1);
the certificates are tendered and settled in a decentralised manner by the national central banks; and
all counterparties fulfilling the general eligibility criteria (as specified in Section 2.1) may submit bids for the subscription of ECB debt certificates.
The issue amount is: PT=N×11+rI×D36000 where: N nominal amount of the debt certificate rI interest rate (in %) D maturity of the debt certificate (in days) PT issue amount of the debt certificate Foreign exchange swaps Foreign exchange swaps executed for monetary policy purposes consist of simultaneous spot and forward transactions in euro against a foreign currency. They are used for fine-tuning purposes, mainly with the aim of managing the liquidity situation in the market and steering interest rates. Foreign exchange swaps executed for monetary policy purposes refer to operations where the Eurosystem buys (or sells) euro spot against a foreign currency and, at the same time, sells (or buys) it back in a forward transaction on a specified repurchase date. Further provisions for foreign exchange swaps are specified in the contractual arrangement applied by the respective national central bank (or the ECB). As a rule, the Eurosystem operates only in widely traded currencies and in accordance with standard market practice. In each foreign exchange swap operation, the Eurosystem and the counterparties agree on the swap points for the transaction. The swap points are the difference between the exchange rate of the forward transaction and the exchange rate of the spot transaction. The swap points of the euro vis-à-vis the foreign currency are quoted according to general market conventions. The exchange rate terms of foreign exchange swaps are specified in Box 2. The operational features of foreign exchange swaps can be summarised as follows:
they can take the form of liquidity-providing or liquidity-absorbing operations;
their frequency is not standardised;
their maturity is not standardised;
they are executed through quick tenders or bilateral procedures (see Chapter 5);
they are normally executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks (the Governing Council of the ECB can decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, bilateral foreign exchange swaps may be executed by the ECB); and
the Eurosystem may select, according to the criteria specified in Section 2.2 and Annex 3, a limited number of counterparties to participate in foreign exchange swaps.
S spot (on the transaction date of the foreign exchange swap) of the exchange rate between the euro (EUR) and a foreign currency ABC S=x×ABC1×EUR FM forward exchange rate between the euro and a foreign currency ABC on the repurchase date of the swap (M) FM=y×ABC1×EUR ΔM forward points between the euro and ABC on the repurchase date of the swap (M) ΔM=FM–S N(.) spot amount of currency; N(.)M is the forward amount of currency: NABC=NEUR×S or NEUR=NABCS NABCM=NEURM×FM or NEURM=NABCMFM Collection of fixed-term deposits The Eurosystem may invite counterparties to place remunerated fixed-term deposits with the national central bank in the Member State in which the counterparty is established. The collection of fixed-term deposits is envisaged only for fine-tuning purposes in order to absorb liquidity in the market. The deposits accepted from counterparties are for a fixed term and with a fixed rate of interest. No collateral is given by the national central banks in exchange for the deposits. The interest rate applied to the deposit is a simple interest rate based on the day-count convention actual/360. Interest is paid at maturity of the deposit. The operational features of the collection of fixed-term deposits can be summarised as follows:
the deposits are collected in order to absorb liquidity;
the frequency with which deposits are collected is not standardised;
the maturity of the deposits is not standardised;
the collection of deposits is normally executed through quick tenders, although the possibility of using bilateral procedures is not excluded (see Chapter 5);
the collection of deposits is normally executed in a decentralised manner by the national central banks (the Governing Council of the ECB can decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, the bilateral collection of fixed-term deposits may be executed by the ECB); and
the Eurosystem may select, according to the criteria specified in Section 2.2, a limited number of counterparties for the collection of fixed-term deposits.
The marginal lending facility Counterparties may use the marginal lending facility to obtain overnight liquidity from national central banks at a pre-specified interest rate against eligible assets (as set out in Chapter 6). The facility is intended to satisfy counterparties’ temporary liquidity needs. Under normal circumstances, the interest rate on the facility provides a ceiling for the overnight market interest rate. The terms and conditions of the facility are identical throughout the euro area. The national central banks may provide liquidity under the marginal lending facility either in the form of overnight repurchase agreements (i.e. the ownership of the asset is transferred to the creditor, while the parties agree to reverse the transaction through a re-transfer of the asset to the debtor on the next business day) or as overnight collateralised loans (i.e. an enforceable security interest is provided over the assets but, assuming fulfilment of the debt obligation, ownership of the asset is retained by the debtor). Further provisions for repurchase agreements are specified in the contractual arrangements applied by the respective national central bank. Arrangements for providing the liquidity in the form of collateralised loans take account of the different procedures and formalities required to enable the establishment and subsequent realisation of a relevant interest in the collateral (a pledge, an assignment or a charge) which apply in different jurisdictions. Institutions fulfilling the general counterparty eligibility criteria specified in Section 2.1 may access the marginal lending facility. Access to the marginal lending facility is granted through the national central bank in the Member State in which the institution is established. Access to the marginal lending facility is granted only on days when the relevant national real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system and the relevant securities settlement system(s) (SSS(s)) are operational. At the end of each business day, counterparties’ intraday debit positions on their settlement account with the national central banks are automatically considered to be a request for recourse to the marginal lending facility. The procedures for end-of-day access to the marginal lending facility are specified in Section 5.3.3. A counterparty may also be granted access to the marginal lending facility by sending a request to the national central bank in the Member State in which the counterparty is established. For the national central bank to process the request on the same day, the request must be received by the national central bank at the latest 30 minutes after the actual closing time of TARGET. As a general rule, the closing time for the TARGET system is 6 p.m. ECB time (CET). The deadline for requesting access to the marginal lending facility is postponed by an additional 30 minutes on the last Eurosystem business day of a reserve maintenance period. In the request, the amount of credit must be stated and, if underlying assets for the transaction have not already been pre-deposited with the national central bank, the underlying assets to be delivered for the transaction must be specified. Apart from the requirement to present sufficient underlying eligible assets, there is no limit to the amount of funds that can be advanced under the marginal lending facility. The maturity of credit extended under the facility is overnight. For counterparties participating directly in TARGET, the credit is repaid on the next day on which the relevant national RTGS system and the relevant SSS(s) are operational, at the time at which those systems open. The interest rate is announced in advance by the Eurosystem and is calculated as a simple interest rate based on the day-count convention actual/360. The ECB may change the interest rate at any time, effective, at the earliest, from the following Eurosystem business day. Interest under the facility is payable with the repayment of the credit. Access to the facility is granted only in accordance with the objectives and general monetary policy considerations of the ECB. The ECB may adapt the conditions of the facility or suspend it at any time. The deposit facility Counterparties can use the deposit facility to make overnight deposits with national central banks. The deposits are remunerated at a pre-specified interest rate. Under normal circumstances, the interest rate on the facility provides a floor for the overnight market interest rate. The terms and conditions of the deposit facility are identical throughout the euro area. The overnight deposits accepted from counterparties are remunerated at a fixed rate of interest. No collateral is given to the counterparty in exchange for the deposits. Institutions fulfilling the general counterparty eligibility criteria specified in Section 2.1 may access the deposit facility. Access to the deposit facility is granted through the national central bank in the Member State in which the institution is established. Access to the deposit facility is granted only on days when the relevant national RTGS system is open. To be granted access to the deposit facility, the counterparty must send a request to the national central bank in the Member State in which the counterparty is established. For the national central bank to process the request on the same day, the request must be received by the national central bank at the latest 30 minutes after the actual closing time of TARGET, which is, as a general rule, 6 p.m. ECB time (CET). The deadline for requesting access to the deposit facility is postponed by an additional 30 minutes on the last Eurosystem business day of a reserve maintenance period. In the request, the amount to be deposited under the facility is to be stated. There is no limit to the amount a counterparty may deposit under the facility. The maturity of deposits under the facility is overnight. For counterparties participating directly in TARGET, deposits held under the facility mature on the next day on which the relevant national RTGS system is operational, at the time at which this system opens. The interest rate is announced in advance by the Eurosystem and is calculated as a simple interest rate based on the day-count convention actual/360. The ECB may change the interest rate at any time, effective, at the earliest, from the following Eurosystem business day. Interest on the deposits is payable on maturity of the deposit. Access to the facility is granted only in accordance with the objectives and general monetary policy considerations of the ECB. The ECB may adapt the conditions of the facility or suspend it at any time. Tender procedures General considerations Eurosystem open market operations are normally executed in the form of tenders. The Eurosystem’s tender procedures are performed in six operational steps, as specified in Box 3. The Eurosystem distinguishes between two different types of tender procedures: standard tenders and quick tenders. The procedures for standard and quick tenders are identical, except for the time frame and the range of counterparties. For standard tenders, a maximum of 24 hours elapses from the announcement of the tender to the certification of the allotment result (where the time between the submission deadline and the announcement of the allotment result is approximately two hours). Chart 1 gives an overview of the normal time frame for the operational steps for standard tenders. The ECB may decide to adjust the time frame in individual operations, if deemed appropriate. The main refinancing operations, the longer-term refinancing operations and structural operations (with the exception of outright transactions) are always executed in the form of standard tenders. Counterparties fulfilling the general eligibility criteria specified in Section 2.1 may participate in standard tenders. Quick tenders are normally executed within 90 minutes of the announcement of the tender, with certification taking place immediately after the announcement of the allotment result. The normal time frame for the operational steps for quick tenders is specified in Chart 2. The ECB may decide to adjust the time frame in individual operations, if deemed appropriate. Quick tenders are only used for the execution of fine-tuning operations. The Eurosystem may select, according to the criteria and procedures specified in Section 2.2, a limited number of counterparties to participate in quick tenders. The Eurosystem has the option of conducting either fixed rate (volume) or variable rate (interest) tenders. In a fixed rate tender, the ECB specifies the interest rate in advance and participating counterparties bid the amount of money they want to transact at the fixed interest rate. In a variable rate tender, counterparties bid the amounts of money and the interest rates at which they want to enter into transactions with the national central banks. Step 1 Tender announcement
a.
Announcement by the ECB through public wire services
b.
Announcement by the national central banks through national wire services and directly to individual counterparties (if deemed necessary)
Step 2 Counterparties’ preparation and submission of bids Step 3 Compilation of bids by the Eurosystem Step 4 Tender allotment and announcement of tender results
a.
ECB allotment decision
b.
Announcement of the allotment result
Step 5 Certification of individual allotment results Step 6 Settlement of the transactions (see Section 5.3) Tender operations calendar The main and the longer-term refinancing operations are executed according to an indicative calendar published by the Eurosystem. The calendar is published at least three months before the start of the year for which it is valid. The normal trade days for the main and the longer-term refinancing operations are specified in Table 2. The ECB aims to ensure that counterparties in all Member States can participate in the main and the longer-term refinancing operations. Therefore, when compiling the calendar for these operations, the ECB makes appropriate adjustments to the normal schedule to take into account bank holidays in the individual Member States. Structural operations through standard tenders are not executed according to any pre-specified calendar. However, they are normally conducted and settled only on days which are NCB business days in all Member States. Fine-tuning operations are not executed according to any pre-specified calendar. The ECB may decide to conduct fine-tuning operations on any Eurosystem business day. Only national central banks of Member States in which the trade day, the settlement day and the reimbursement day are NCB business days participate in such operations. T–1 Trade day (T) T+1 30 45 4 p.m. 15 30 30 45 9 a.m. 15 30 45 10 a.m. 15 30 45 11 a.m. 15 30 Ia Ib 2 3 4a 4b 5 6 3.30 p.m. Tender announcement 9.30 a.m. Deadline for counterparties’ submission of bids 11.15 a.m. Announcement of tender results Note: The figures refer to the operational steps as defined in Box 3. Trade day (T) 1st hour 2nd hour 3rd hour 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 Ib 3 4b Ia 2 4a Tender announcement 5 6 Deadline for counterparties’ submission of bids Announcement of tender results Note: The figures refer to the operational steps as defined in Box 3. Type of operation Normal trade day (T) Main refinancing operations Each Tuesday Longer-term refinancing operations The last Wednesday of each calendar month Announcement of tender operations Eurosystem standard tenders are publicly announced by means of wire services. In addition, national central banks may announce the tender operation directly to counterparties without access to wire services. The public tender announcement message normally contains the following information:
the reference number of the tender operation;
the date of the tender operation;
the type of operation (provision or absorption of liquidity and the type of monetary policy instrument to be used);
the maturity of the operation;
the type of auction (fixed rate or variable rate tender);
the method of allotment (Dutch or American auction, as defined in Section 5.1.5);
the intended operation volume (normally only in the case of longer-term refinancing operations);
the fixed tender interest rate/price/swap point (in the case of fixed rate tenders);
the minimum/maximum accepted interest rate/price/swap point (if applicable);
the start date and maturity date of the operation (if applicable), or the value date and maturity date of the instrument (in the case of the issuance of debt certificates);
the currencies involved and the currency, the amount of which is kept fixed (in the case of foreign exchange swaps);
the reference spot exchange rate to be used for the calculation of bids (in the case of foreign exchange swaps);
the maximum bid limit (if any);
the minimum individual allotment amount (if any);
the minimum allotment ratio (if any);
the time schedule for the submission of bids;
the denomination of the certificates (in the case of the issuance of debt certificates); and
the ISIN code of the issue (in the case of the issuance of debt certificates).
With a view to enhancing transparency in its fine-tuning operations, the Eurosystem normally announces quick tenders publicly in advance. However, under exceptional circumstances, the ECB may decide not to announce quick tenders publicly in advance. The announcement of quick tenders follows the same procedures as those for standard tenders. In a quick tender, regardless of whether it is announced publicly or not, the selected counterparties are contacted directly by the national central banks. Preparation and submission of bids by counterparties Counterparties’ bids must be in a form that follows the pro forma example provided by the national central banks for the relevant operation. The bids must be submitted to the national central bank of a Member State in which the institution has an establishment (head office or branch). The bids of an institution may only be submitted by one establishment (either the head office or a designated branch) in each Member State. In fixed rate tenders, counterparties must state in their bids the amount of money that they are willing to transact with the national central banks. In variable rate tenders, counterparties may submit bids for up to ten different interest rate/price/swap point levels. In each bid, they must state the amount of money that they are willing to transact with the national central banks and the respective interest rate. The interest rates bid must be expressed as multiples of 0,01 percentage point. In the case of a variable rate foreign exchange swap tender, the swap points must be quoted according to standard market conventions and bids must be expressed as multiples of 0,01 swap point. For the main refinancing operations, the minimum bid amount is EUR 1000000. Bids exceeding this amount must be expressed as multiples of EUR 100000. The same minimum bid and multiple amounts are applied in fine-tuning and structural operations. The minimum bid amount is applied to each individual interest rate/price/swap point level. For the longer-term refinancing operations, each national central bank defines a minimum bid amount in the range from EUR 10000 to EUR 1000000. Bids exceeding the defined minimum bid amount must be expressed as multiples of EUR 10000. The minimum bid amount is applied to each individual interest rate level. The ECB may impose a maximum bid limit in order to prevent disproportionately large bids. Any such maximum bid limit is always specified in the public tender announcement message. Counterparties are expected always to be in a position to cover the amounts allotted to them with a sufficient amount of eligible underlying assets. The contractual or regulatory arrangements applied by the respective national central bank allow the imposition of penalties if a counterparty is unable to transfer a sufficient amount of underlying assets or cash to settle the amount it has been allotted in a tender operation. Bids are revocable up to the tender submission deadline. Bids submitted after the deadline specified in the tender announcement message are invalid. Respect of the deadline is judged by the national central banks. The national central banks discard all the bids of a counterparty if the aggregate amount bid exceeds any maximum bid limit established by the ECB. The national central banks also discard any bid which is below the minimum bid amount or which is below any minimum or above any maximum accepted interest rate/price/swap point. Furthermore, the national central banks may discard bids which are incomplete or which do not follow the pro forma example. If a bid is discarded, the respective national central bank informs the counterparty about its decision prior to the tender allotment. Tender allotment procedures In the allotment of a fixed rate tender, the bids received from counterparties are added together. If the aggregate amount bid exceeds the total amount of liquidity to be allotted, the submitted bids will be satisfied pro rata, according to the ratio of the amount to be allotted to the aggregate amount bid (see Box 4). The amount allotted to each counterparty is rounded to the nearest euro. However, the ECB may decide to allot a minimum amount/ratio to each bidder in fixed rate tenders. The percentage of allotment is: all%=AΣi=1nai The amount allotted to the i th counterparty is: alli=all%×ai where: A total amount allotted n total number of counterparties ai bid amount of the ith counterparty all% percentage of allotment alli total amount allotted to the ith counterparty In the allotment of liquidity-providing variable rate tenders in euro, bids are listed in descending order of offered interest rates. Bids with the highest interest rate levels are satisfied first and subsequently bids with successively lower interest rates are accepted until the total liquidity to be allotted is exhausted. If, at the lowest interest rate level accepted (i.e. the marginal interest rate), the aggregate amount bid exceeds the remaining amount to be allotted, the remaining amount is allocated pro rata among the bids according to the ratio of the remaining amount to be allotted to the total amount bid at the marginal interest rate (see Box 5). The amount allotted to each counterparty is rounded to the nearest euro. In the allotment of liquidity-absorbing variable rate tenders (which may be used for the issuance of debt certificates and the collection of fixed-term deposits), bids are listed in ascending order of offered interest rates (or descending order of offered prices). Bids with the lowest interest rate (highest price) levels are satisfied first and subsequently bids with successively higher interest rates (lower price bids) are accepted until the total liquidity to be absorbed is exhausted. If, at the highest interest rate (lowest price) level accepted (i.e. the marginal interest rate/price), the aggregate bid amount exceeds the remaining amount to be allotted, the remaining amount is allocated pro rata among the bids according to the ratio of the remaining amount to be allotted to the total bid amount at the marginal interest rate/price (see Box 5). For the issuance of debt certificates, the amount allotted to each counterparty is rounded to the nearest multiple of the denomination of the debt certificates. For other liquidity-absorbing operations, the amount allotted to each counterparty is rounded to the nearest euro. The ECB may decide to allot a minimum amount to each successful bidder in variable rate tenders. (the example refers to bids quoted in the form of interest rates) The percentage of allotment at the marginal interest rate is: all%rm=A–Σs=1m–1arsarm The allotment to the ith counterparty at the marginal interest rate is: allrmi=all%rm×armi The total amount allotted to the ith counterparty is: alli=Σs=1m–1arsi+allrmi where: A total amount allotted rs sth interest rate bid by the counterparties n total number of counterparties a(rs)i amount bid at the sth interest rate (rs) by the ith counterparty a(rs) total amount bid at the sth interest rate (rs) ars=Σi=1narsi rm marginal interest rate: r1≥rs≥rm for a liquidity-providing tender rm≥ris≥r1 for a liquidity-absorbing tender rm-1 interest rate before the marginal interest rate (last interest rate at which bids are completely satisfied): rm–1>rm for a liquidity-providing tender rm>rm–1 for a liquidity-absorbing tender all%(rm) percentage of allotment at the marginal interest rate all(rs)i allotment to the ith counterparty at the sth interest rate alli total amount allotted to the ith counterparty In the allotment of liquidity-providing variable rate foreign exchange swap tenders, bids are listed in ascending order of swap point quotations. The bids with the lowest swap point quotations are satisfied first and subsequently successively higher swap point quotations are accepted until the total amount of the fixed currency to be allotted is exhausted. If, at the highest swap point quotation accepted (i.e. the marginal swap point quotation), the aggregate amount bid exceeds the remaining amount to be allotted, the remaining amount is allocated pro rata among the bids according to the ratio of the remaining amount to be allotted to the total amount bid at the marginal swap point quotation (see Box 6). The amount allotted to each counterparty is rounded to the nearest euro. In the allotment of liquidity-absorbing variable rate foreign exchange swap tenders, bids are listed in descending order of offered swap point quotations. The bids with the highest swap point quotations are satisfied first and subsequently successively lower swap point quotations are accepted until the total amount of the fixed currency to be absorbed is exhausted. If, at the lowest swap point quotation accepted (i.e. the marginal swap point quotation), the aggregate amount bid exceeds the remaining amount to be allotted, the remaining amount is allocated pro rata among the bids according to the ratio of the remaining amount to be allotted to the total amount bid at the marginal swap point quotation (see Box 6). The amount allotted to each counterparty is rounded to the nearest euro. For variable rate tenders, the Eurosystem may apply either single rate or multiple rate auction procedures. In a single rate auction (Dutch auction), the allotment interest rate/price/swap point applied for all satisfied bids is equal to the marginal interest rate/price/swap point (i.e. that at which the total allotment is exhausted). In a multiple rate auction (American auction), the allotment interest rate/price/swap point is equal to the interest rate/price/swap point offered for each individual bid. The percentage of allotment at the marginal swap point quotation is: all%Δm=A–Σs=1m–1aΔsaΔm The allotment to the ith counterparty at the marginal swap point quotation is: allΔmi=all%Δm×aΔmi The total amount allotted to the ith counterparty is: alli=Σs=1m–1aΔsi+allΔmi where: A total amount allotted Δs sth swap point quotation bid by the counterparties n total number of counterparties a(Δs)i amount bid at the sth swap point quotation (Δs) by the ith counterparty a(Δs) total amount bid at the sth swap point quotation (Δs) aΔs=Σi=1naΔsi Δm marginal swap point quotation: Δm≥Δs≥Δ1 for a liquidity-providing foreign exchange swap Δ1≥Δs≥Δm for a liquidity-absorbing foreign exchange swap Δm-1 swap point quotation before the marginal swap point quotation (last swap point quotation at which bids are completely satisfied): Δm>Δm–1 for a liquidity-providing foreign exchange swap Δm–1>Δm for a liquidity-absorbing foreign exchange swap all%(Δm) percentage of allotment at the marginal swap point quotation all(Δs)i allotment to the ith counterparty at the sth swap point quotation alli total amount allotted to the ith counterparty Announcement of tender results The results of standard and quick tenders are announced publicly by means of wire services. In addition, national central banks may announce the allotment result directly to counterparties without access to wire services. The public tender result message normally contains the following information:
the reference number of the tender operation;
the date of the tender operation;
the type of operation;
the maturity of the operation;
the total amount bid by Eurosystem counterparties;
the number of bidders;
the currencies involved (in the case of foreign exchange swaps);
the total amount allotted;
the percentage of allotment (in the case of fixed rate tenders);
the spot exchange rate (in the case of foreign exchange swaps);
the marginal interest rate/price/swap point accepted and the percentage of allotment at the marginal interest rate/price/swap point (in the case of variable rate tenders);
the minimum bid rate, maximum bid rate and weighted average allotment rate (in the case of multiple rate auctions);
the start date and maturity date of the operation (if applicable) or the value date and maturity date of the instrument (in the case of the issuance of debt certificates);
the minimum individual allotment amount (if any);
the minimum allotment ratio (if any);
the denomination of the certificates (in the case of the issuance of debt certificates); and
the ISIN code of the issue (in the case of the issuance of debt certificates).
The national central banks will directly certify the individual allotment result to successful counterparties. Procedures for bilateral operations The national central banks may execute operations on the basis of bilateral procedures. These procedures may be used for fine-tuning open market operations and structural outright operations. They are defined in a broad sense as any procedures where the Eurosystem conducts a transaction with one or a few counterparties without a tender. In this respect, two different types of bilateral procedures can be distinguished: operations where counterparties are contacted directly by the Eurosystem, and operations executed through stock exchanges and market agents. In this procedure, the national central banks directly contact one or a few domestic counterparties, which are selected according to the criteria specified in Section 2.2. According to the precise instructions given by the ECB, the national central banks decide whether to enter into a deal with the counterparties. The transactions are settled through the national central banks. If the Governing Council of the ECB were to decide that, under exceptional circumstances, bilateral operations could also be executed by the ECB itself (or by one or a few national central banks acting as the operating arm of the ECB), the procedures for such operations would be adapted accordingly. In this case, the ECB (or the national central bank(s) acting as the operating arm of the ECB) would directly contact one or a few counterparties in the euro area, selected according to the criteria specified in Section 2.2. The ECB (or the national central bank(s) acting as the operating arm of the ECB) would decide whether to enter into a deal with the counterparties. The transactions would nevertheless be settled in a decentralised manner through the national central banks. Bilateral operations through direct contact with counterparties can be applied for reverse transactions, outright transactions, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits. The national central banks can execute outright transactions through stock exchanges and market agents. For these operations, the range of counterparties is not restricted a priori and the procedures are adapted to the market conventions for the debt instruments transacted. The Governing Council of the ECB will decide whether, under exceptional circumstances, the ECB itself (or one or a few national central banks acting as the operating arm of the ECB) may execute fine-tuning outright operations through stock exchanges and market agents. Bilateral operations are normally not announced publicly in advance. In addition, the ECB may decide not to announce the results of bilateral operations publicly. The ECB may decide to conduct fine-tuning bilateral operations on any Eurosystem business day. Only national central banks of Member States where the trade day, the settlement day and the reimbursement day are NCB business days participate in such operations. Outright bilateral operations for structural purposes are normally only conducted and settled on days which are NCB business days in all Member States. Settlement procedures General considerations Money transactions relating to the use of Eurosystem standing facilities or to participation in open market operations are settled on the counterparties’ accounts with the national central banks (or on the accounts of settlement banks participating in the TARGET system). Money transactions are settled only after (or at the moment of) the final transfer of the assets underlying the operation. This implies that underlying assets need either to have been pre-deposited in a safe custody account at the national central banks or to be settled with said national central banks on an intraday delivery-versus-payment basis. The transfer of underlying assets is executed via the counterparties’ securities settlement accounts with SSSs fulfilling the ECB’s minimum standards. Counterparties without a safe custody account with a national central bank or a securities settlement account with an SSS fulfilling the ECB’s minimum standards may settle the transactions of underlying assets through the securities settlement account or the safe custody account of a correspondent credit institution. Further provisions related to the settlement procedures are defined in the contractual arrangements applied by the national central banks (or the ECB) for the specific monetary policy instruments. The settlement procedures may differ slightly between national central banks owing to differences in national law and operational practices. Monetary policy instrument Settlement date for operations based on standard tenders Settlement date for operations based on quick tenders or bilateral procedures Reverse transactions T + 1 T Outright transactions — According to market convention for the underlying assets Issuance of debt certificates T + 1 — Foreign exchange swaps — T, T + 1 or T + 2 Collection of fixed-term deposits — T Settlement of open market operations Open market operations based on standard tenders (i.e. main refinancing operations, longer-term refinancing operations and structural operations) are normally settled on the first day following the trade day on which all relevant national RTGS systems and all relevant SSSs are open. As a matter of principle, the Eurosystem aims to settle the transactions related to its open market operations at the same time in all Member States with all counterparties that have provided sufficient underlying assets. However, owing to operational constraints and the technical features of SSSs, the timing within the day of the settlement of open market operations may differ across the euro area. The time of settlement of the main and the longer-term refinancing operations normally coincides with the time of reimbursement of a previous operation of corresponding maturity. The Eurosystem aims to settle open market operations based on quick tenders and bilateral procedures on the trade day. However, the Eurosystem may, for operational reasons, occasionally apply other settlement dates for these operations, in particular for outright transactions (for fine-tuning as well as structural purposes) and foreign exchange swaps (see Table 3). End-of-day procedures The end-of-day procedures are specified in documentation related to the national RTGS systems and the TARGET system. As a general rule, the closing time for the TARGET system is 6 p.m. ECB time (CET). No further payment orders are accepted for processing in the national RTGS systems after the closing time, although remaining payment orders accepted before the closing time are still processed. Counterparties’ requests for access to the marginal lending facility or to the deposit facility must be submitted to the respective national central bank at the latest 30 minutes after the actual closing time of the TARGET system. Any negative balances on the settlement accounts (in the national RTGS systems) of eligible counterparties remaining after the finalisation of the end-of-day control procedures are automatically considered to be a request for recourse to the marginal lending facility (see Section 4.1). General considerations Article 18.1 of the Statute of the ESCB allows the ECB and the national central banks to transact in financial markets by buying and selling underlying assets outright or under repurchase agreements and requires all Eurosystem credit operations to be based on adequate collateral. Consequently, all Eurosystem liquidity-providing operations are based on underlying assets provided by the counterparties either in the form of the transfer of ownership of assets (in the case of outright transactions or repurchase agreements) or in the form of a pledge, an assignment or a charge granted over relevant assets (in the case of collateralised loans). With the aims of protecting the Eurosystem from incurring losses in its monetary policy operations and of ensuring the equal treatment of counterparties, as well as of enhancing operational efficiency and transparency, underlying assets have to fulfil certain criteria in order to be eligible for Eurosystem monetary policy operations. The Eurosystem has developed a single framework for eligible assets common to all Eurosystem credit operations. This single framework (also referred to as the Single List) will come into effect on 1 January 2007 and will replace the two-tier system which has been in place from the start of Economic and Monetary Union and will be phased out by 31 May 2007. The single framework comprises two distinct asset classes – marketable assets and non-marketable assets. No distinction is made between the two asset classes with regard to the quality of the assets and their eligibility for the various types of Eurosystem monetary policy operations, except that non-marketable assets are not used by the Eurosystem for outright transactions. The assets eligible for Eurosystem monetary policy operations can also be used as underlying assets for intraday credit. The eligibility criteria for the two asset classes are uniform across the euro area and are set out in Section 6.2. To ensure that the two asset classes comply with the same credit standards, a Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) has been set up, which relies on different credit assessment sources. The procedures and rules establishing and controlling the Eurosystem’s requirement of high credit standards for all eligible collateral are outlined in Section 6.3. The risk control measures and valuation principles for underlying assets are set out in Sections 6.4 and 6.5. Eurosystem counterparties may use eligible assets on a cross-border basis (see Section 6.6). Eligibility specifications for underlying assets The ECB establishes, maintains and publishes a list of eligible marketable assets. For non-marketable assets, the ECB will neither publish a list of eligible assets nor a list of eligible debtors/guarantors. Eligibility criteria for marketable assets Debt certificates issued by the ECB and all debt certificates issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem prior to the date of adoption of the euro in their respective Member State are eligible. To determine the eligibility of other marketable assets, the following eligibility criteria are applied (see also Table 4): It must be a debt instrument having:
(a) a fixed, unconditional principal amount; and
(b) a coupon that cannot result in a negative cash flow. In addition, the coupon should be one of the following: (i) a zero coupon; (ii) a fixed rate coupon; or (iii) a floating rate coupon linked to an interest rate reference. The coupon may be linked to a change in the rating of the issuer itself. Furthermore, inflation-indexed bonds are also eligible.
These features must be maintained until the redemption of the obligation. Debt instruments may not afford rights to the principal and/or the interest that are subordinated to the rights of holders of other debt instruments of the same issuer. Requirement (a) does not apply to asset-backedsecurities, with the exception of bonds issued by credit institutions in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 22 of the UCITS Directive (referred to as covered bank bonds). The Eurosystem assesses the eligibility of asset-backed securities other than covered bank bonds against the following criteria. The cash flow-generating assets backing the asset-backed securities must:
(a) be legally acquired in accordance with the laws of a Member State from the originator or an intermediary by the securitisation special-purpose vehicle in a manner which the Eurosystem considers to be a true sale that is enforceable against any third party, and be beyond the reach of the originator and its creditors, including in the event of the originator’s insolvency; and
(b) not consist, in whole or in part, actually or potentially, of credit-linked notes or similar claims resulting from the transfer of credit risk by means of credit derivatives.
Within a structured issue, in order to be eligible, a tranche (or sub-tranche) may not be subordinated to other tranches of the same issue. A tranche (or sub-tranche) is considered to be non-subordinated vis-à-vis other tranches (or sub-tranches) of the same issue, and is senior if, in accordance with the priority of payment applicable after the delivery of an enforcement notice, as set out in the offering circular, that tranche (or sub-tranche) is given priority over other tranches or sub-tranches in respect of receiving payment (principal and interest), or is last in incurring losses in relation to underlying assets. The Eurosystem reserves the right to request from any relevant third party (such as the issuer, the originator or the arranger) any clarification and/or legal confirmation that it considers necessary to assess the eligibility of asset-backed securities. The debt instrument must meet the high credit standards specified in the ECAF rules for marketable assets, as set out in Section 6.3.2. The debt instrument must be deposited/registered (issued) in the EEA with a central bank or with a central securities depository (CSD) which fulfils the minimum standards established by the ECB. In case a marketable debt instrument is issued by a non-financial corporation that is not rated by an accepted external credit assessment institution (ECAI), the place of issue must be the euro area. The debt instrument must be transferable in book-entry form. It must be held and settled in the euro area through an account with the Eurosystem or with an SSS that fulfils the standards established by the ECB, so that perfection and realisation are subject to the law of a euro area country. If the CSD where the asset is issued and the SSS where it is held are not identical, then the two institutions have to be connected by a link approved by the ECB. The debt instrument must be admitted to trading on a regulated market as defined in the Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments, or traded on certain non-regulated markets as specified by the ECB. The assessment of non-regulated markets by the Eurosystem is based on three principles – safety, transparency and accessibility. The debt instrument may be issued or guaranteed by central banks, public sector entities, private sector entities, or international or supranational institutions. Debt instruments other than covered bank bonds that are issued by credit institutions are only eligible if they are admitted to trading on a regulated market as defined above. The issuer must be established in the EEA or in one of the non-EEA G10 countries. In the latter case, the debt instruments can only be considered eligible if the Eurosystem ascertains that its rights would be protected in an appropriate manner, as determined by the Eurosystem, under the laws of the respective non-EEA G10 country. For this purpose, a legal assessment in a form and with substance acceptable to the Eurosystem will have to be submitted before the assets can be considered eligible. In the case of an asset-backed security, the issuer must be established in the EEA. The guarantor must be established in the EEA. International or supranational institutions are eligible issuers/guarantors irrespective of their place of establishment. In case a marketable debt instrument is issued by a non-financial corporation that is not rated by an ECAI, the issuer/guarantor must be established in the euro area. The debt instrument must be denominated in euro. Eligibility criteria for non-marketable assets Two types of non-marketable assets are eligible as collateral in the single framework for eligible assets: credit claims and non-marketable retail mortgage-backed debt instruments (RMBDs). To be eligible, a credit claim has to fulfil the following eligibility criteria (see also Table 4):
Type of asset: It must be a credit claim which is a debt obligation of a debtor vis-à-vis a Eurosystem counterparty. Credit claims that have a reducing balance (i.e. where the principal and interest are paid off according to a pre-agreed schedule) are also eligible. Undrawn credit lines (e.g. undrawn facilities of revolving credit claims), current account overdrafts and letters of credit (which authorise the use of credit but are not credit claims per se) are not eligible. The share of a syndicate member institution in a syndicated loan is considered an eligible type of credit claim. Credit claims may not afford rights to the principal and/or the interest that are subordinated to the rights of holders of other credit claims or debt instruments of the same issuer. The credit claim must have (a) a fixed, unconditional principal amount and (b) an interest rate that cannot result in a negative cash flow. In addition, the interest rate should be one of the following: (i) zero coupon-style; (ii) fixed; or (iii) floating linked to another interest rate reference. These features must be maintained until the redemption of the obligation.
Type of debtor/guarantor: Eligible debtors or guarantors are non-financial corporations, public sector entities and international or supranational institutions. Each debtor is individually and severally liable for the full repayment of the credit claim in question (co-debtors jointly liable for individual credit claims are excluded).
Place of establishment of the debtor/guarantor: The debtor/guarantor must be established in the euro area. This requirement does not apply to international or supranational institutions.
Credit standards: The quality of credit claims is assessed through the underlying creditworthiness of the debtor/guarantor. Credit claims must meet the high credit standards specified in the ECAF rules for non-marketable assets, as set out in Section 6.3.3.
Minimum size: At the time of submission for use as collateral (mobilisation) by the counterparty, the credit claim must meet a minimum size threshold. In an interim period (1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011), each national central bank may apply a minimum size of its choice for domestic credit claims. For cross-border use, a common minimum threshold of EUR 500000 is applicable in the interim period. As from 1 January 2012 a common minimum threshold of EUR 500000 will be applicable to all credit claims throughout the euro area.
Handling procedures: The credit claim must be handled according to the Eurosystem procedures as defined in the respective national documentation.
Governing laws: The credit claim agreement and the agreement between the counterparty and the national central bank mobilising the credit claim as collateral (mobilisation agreement) must both be governed by the law of a Member State belonging to the euro area. Furthermore, the total number of different governing laws that are applicable to (i) the counterparty, (ii) the creditor, (iii) the debtor, (iv) the guarantor (if relevant), (v) the credit claim agreement and (vi) the mobilisation agreement may not exceed two.
Currency of denomination: The credit claim must be denominated in euro.
The following eligibility criteria are applied to RMBDs (see also Table 4):
Type of asset: It must be a debt instrument (a promissory note or a bill of exchange) that is secured by a pool of residential mortgages and that falls short of full securitisation. Substitution of assets in the underlying pool must be possible and a mechanism needs to be in place to ensure that the Eurosystem enjoys priority over creditors other than those exempted for public policy reasons. The RMBD must have (a) a fixed, unconditional principal amount and (b) an interest rate that cannot result in a negative cash flow.
Credit standards: The RMBD must meet high credit standards, which are assessed through the part of the ECAF that addresses RMBDs, as set out in Section 6.3.3.
Type of issuer: Eligible issuers are credit institutions that are eligible counterparties.
Place of establishment of the issuer: The issuer must be located in the euro area.
Handling procedures: The RMBD must be handled according to the Eurosystem procedures as defined in the respective national documentation.
Currency of denomination: The RMBD must be denominated in euro.
Additional requirements for the use of eligible assets In order to ensure that a valid security is created over credit claims and that the credit claim can be swiftly realised in the event of a counterparty default, additional legal requirements have to be met. These legal requirements relate to:
the verification of the existence of credit claims;
the notification of the debtor about the mobilisation of the credit claim or the registration of such mobilisation;
the absence of restrictions related to banking secrecy and confidentiality;
the absence of restrictions on the mobilisation of the credit claim;
the absence of restrictions on the realisation of the credit claim.
The content of these legal requirements is set out in Annex 7. Further details of the specific features of the national jurisdictions are provided in the respective national documentation. Marketable assets can be used for all monetary policy operations which are based on underlying assets, i.e. reverse and outright open market transactions and the marginal lending facility. Non-marketable assets can be used as underlying assets for reverse open market transactions and the marginal lending facility. They are not used in Eurosystem outright transactions. All marketable and non-marketable assets can also be used as underlying assets for intraday credit. Irrespective of the fact that a marketable or non-marketable asset fulfils all eligibility criteria, a counterparty may not submit as collateral any asset issued or guaranteed by itself or by any other entity with which it has close links. Close links means a situation in which the counterparty is linked to an issuer/debtor/guarantor of eligible assets by reason of the fact that:
(i) the counterparty owns 20 % or more of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor, or one or more undertakings in which the counterparty owns the majority of the capital own 20 % or more of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor, or the counterparty and one or more undertakings in which the counterparty owns the majority of the capital together own 20 % or more of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor; or
(ii
the issuer/debtor/guarantor owns 20 % or more of the capital of the counterparty, or one or more undertakings in which the issuer/debtor/guarantor owns the majority of the capital own 20 % or more of the capital of the counterparty, or the issuer/debtor/guarantor and one or more undertakings in which the issuer/debtor/guarantor owns the majority of the capital together own 20 % or more of the capital of the counterparty; or
(iii) a third party owns both the majority of the capital of the counterparty and the majority of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor, either directly or indirectly, through one or more undertakings in which that third party owns the majority of the capital.
The above provision on close links does not apply to: (a) close links between the counterparty and the public authorities of EEA countries (including the case where the public authority is a guarantor of the issuer/debtor/guarantor); (b) covered bank bonds issued in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 22(4) of the UCITS Directive; or (c) cases in which debt instruments are protected by specific legal safeguards comparable to those for the instruments given under (b). Furthermore, in spite of their eligibility, national central banks may decide not to accept the following marketable or non-marketable assets as collateral:
debt instruments falling due before the maturity date of the monetary policy operation for which they are being used as underlying assets; and
debt instruments with an income flow (e.g. a coupon payment) occurring in the period up to the maturity date of the monetary policy operation for which they are being used as underlying assets.
All eligible marketable and non-marketable assets must be usable in a cross-border context throughout the euro area. This implies that all Eurosystem counterparties must be able to use eligible assets either through links with their domestic SSSs in the case of marketable assets or through other eligible arrangements to receive credit from the national central bank of the Member State in which the counterparty is established (see Section 6.6). Eligibility criteria Marketable assets Non-marketable assets Type of asset ECB debt certificates Other marketable debt instruments Credit claims RMBDs Credit standards The asset must meet high credit standards. The high credit standards are assessed using ECAF rules for marketable assets. The debtor/guarantor must meet high credit standards. The creditworthiness is assessed using ECAF rules for credit claims. The asset must meet high credit standards. The high credit standards are assessed using ECAF rules for RMBDs. Place of issue EEA Not applicable Not applicable Settlement/handling procedures Place of settlement: euro area Instruments must be centrally deposited in book-entry form with central banks or an SSS fulfilling the ECB’s minimum standards. Eurosystem procedures Eurosystem procedures Type of issuer/debtor/guarantors Central banks Public sector Private sector International and supranational institutions Public sector Non-financial corporations International and supranational institutions Credit institutions Place of establishment of the issuer/debtor or guarantor Issuer: EEA or non-EEA G10 countries Guarantor: EEA Euro area Euro area Acceptable markets Regulated markets Non-regulated markets accepted by the ECB Not applicable Not applicable Currency Euro Euro Euro Minimum size Not applicable Minimum size threshold at the time of submission of the credit claim. Between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2011:
for domestic use: choice of the NCB;
for cross-border use: common threshold of EUR 500000.
As from 1 January 2012: common minimum threshold of EUR 500000 throughout the euro area. Not applicable Governing laws related to credit claims Not applicable Governing law for credit claim agreement and mobilisation: law of a Member State of the euro area. The total number of different laws applicable to
(i) the counterparty,
(ii) the creditor,
(iii) the debtor,
(iv) the guarantor (if relevant),
(v) the credit claim agreement, and
(vi) the mobilisation agreement shall not exceed two.
Not applicable Cross-border use Yes Yes Yes Eurosystem credit assessment framework Scope and elements The Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) defines the procedures, rules and techniques which ensure that the Eurosystem requirement of high credit standards for all eligible assets is met. Within the general framework, in the establishment of high credit standards, the Eurosystem differentiates between marketable and non-marketable assets (see Sections 6.3.2 and 6.3.3) in order to take account of the different legal nature of these assets and for operational efficiency reasons. In the assessment of the credit standard of eligible assets, the Eurosystem takes into account credit assessment information from credit assessment systems belonging to one of four sources, namely external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs), NCBs’ in-house credit assessment systems (ICASs), counterparties’ internal ratings-based (IRB) systems or third-party providers’ rating tools (RTs). Additionally, in the assessment of the credit standard, the Eurosystem takes into account institutional criteria and features guaranteeing similar protection for the instrument holder such as guarantees. The Eurosystem’s benchmark for establishing its minimum requirement for high credit standards (its credit quality threshold) is defined in terms of a single A credit assessment. The Eurosystem considers a probability of default (PD) over a one-year horizon of 0.10 % as equivalent to a single A credit assessment, subject to a regular review. The ECAF follows the definition of a default event given in the EU Capital Requirements Directive (CRD). The Eurosystem publishes the lowest rating grade meeting the required credit quality threshold for each accepted ECAI, without assuming any responsibility of its assessment of the ECAI, again subject to regular review. The Eurosystem reserves the right to determine whether an issue, issuer, debtor or guarantor fulfils its requirements for high credit standards on the basis of any information it may consider relevant and may reject assets on such grounds. In case such a rejection is based on prudential information, the use of any such information transmitted either by counterparties or by supervisors shall be strictly commensurate with, and necessary for, the performance of the Eurosystem’s tasks of conducting monetary policy. In order to ensure the consistency, accuracy and comparability of the four credit assessment sources used in the ECAF, the Eurosystem has devised acceptance criteria for each of these sources (see Section 6.3.4) and regularly monitors their credit assessment performance against the credit quality threshold (see Section 6.3.5). Establishment of high credit standards for marketable assets The high credit standards for marketable assets are established on the basis of the following set of criteria:
ECAI credit assessment: At least one credit assessment from an accepted ECAI (as set out in Section 6.3.4) for the issue (or, in its absence, for the issuer) must comply with the Eurosystem’s credit quality threshold. The ECB publishes the credit quality threshold for any accepted ECAI, as established under Section 6.3.1.
Guarantees: In the absence of an (acceptable) ECAI credit assessment of the issuer, high credit standards can be established on the basis of guarantees provided by financially sound guarantors. The financial soundness of the guarantor is assessed on the basis of ECAI credit assessments meeting the Eurosystem’s credit quality threshold. The guarantee must meet the following requirements:
A guarantee is deemed acceptable if the guarantor has unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed the obligations of the issuer in relation to the payment of principal, interest and any other amounts due under the debt instruments to the holders thereof until they are discharged in full.
The guarantee has to be payable on first demand (independently from the underlying debt obligation). Guarantees given by public entities entitled to levy taxes should either be payable on first demand or otherwise provide for prompt and punctual payment following default. The obligations of the guarantor under the guarantee need to rank at least equally and rateably (pari passu) with all other unsecured obligations of the guarantor.
The guarantee must be governed by the law of an EU Member State and be legally valid, binding and enforceable against the guarantor.
A legal confirmation concerning the legal validity, binding effect and enforceability of the guarantee will have to be submitted in a form and with substance acceptable to the Eurosystem before the asset supported by the guarantee can be considered eligible. If the guarantor is established in a jurisdiction other than the one of the law governing the guarantee, the legal confirmation must also confirm that the guarantee is valid and enforceable under the law governing the establishment of the guarantor. The legal confirmation should be submitted for review to the national central bank that is reporting a certain asset supported by a guarantee for inclusion in the list of eligible assets. The need for a legal confirmation does not apply to guarantees given in respect of debt instruments with an individual asset rating or to guarantees given by public entities entitled to levy taxes. The requirement of enforceability is subject to any insolvency or bankruptcy laws, general principles of equity and other similar laws and principles applicable to the guarantor and generally affecting creditors’ rights against the guarantor.
In the absence of an ECAI credit assessment for the issue, issuer or guarantor, the high credit standards are established as follows:
Euro area public sector issuers or guarantors: If a marketable asset is issued or guaranteed by a regional government, local authority or public sector entity (PSE) located in the euro area as defined in the CRD, the following procedure applies:
The issuer or guarantor is allocated to one of three classes in accordance with the CRD as explained in Table 5.
An implicit credit assessment for issuers or guarantors belonging to classes 1 and 2 is derived from the ECAI credit assessment of the central government of the country where the issuer or guarantor is established. This implicit credit assessment has to meet the Eurosystem credit quality threshold. No implicit credit assessment is derived for issuers/guarantors belonging to class 3.
Euro area non-financial corporate issuers or guarantors: If the high credit standards for marketable assets which are issued/guaranteed by non-financial corporations located in the euro area cannot be established on the basis of an ECAI credit assessment for the issue, issuer or guarantor, the ECAF rules for credit claims will be applicable and counterparties are allowed to make use of their own IRB system, NCBs’ in-house credit assessment systems or third-party rating tools. The non-rated marketable debt instruments issued by non-financial corporations are not included in the public list of eligible marketable assets.
Allocation of issuers, debtors or guarantors following the CRD ECAF derivation of the implicit credit assessment of the issuer, debtor or guarantor belonging to the corresponding class Class 1 Regional governments, local authorities and PSEs that, according to competent supervisory authorities, can be treated equally to the central government for capital requirements purposes Allocated the ECAI credit assessment of the central government of the country in which it is established Class 2 Regional governments, local authorities and PSEs that, according to competent supervisory authorities, can be treated equally to [credit] institutions for capital requirements purposes Allocated a credit assessment one credit quality step below the ECAI credit assessment of the central government ofthe country in which it is established Class 3 Other PSEs Treated like private sector issuers or debtors Establishment of high credit standards for non-marketable assets In order to establish the requirement for high credit standards for the debtors or guarantors of credit claims, counterparties have to select one main credit assessment source from among those that are available and accepted by the Eurosystem. A counterparty will select one system from an available credit assessment source, except in the case of ECAIs, where all accepted ECAI systems may be used. Counterparties have to stick to the selected source for a minimum period of one year so as to preclude hopping between credit assessments (i.e. looking for the best credit assessment that guarantees eligibility among all available sources or systems on a debtor-by-debtor basis). Counterparties wishing to change credit assessment sources after the minimum period of one year have to submit a reasoned request to the relevant NCB. Counterparties may be allowed to use more than one system or source upon submission of a reasoned request. The main credit assessment source chosen is expected to cover the largest number of submitted debtors by the counterparty. The use of more than one credit assessment source or system should be supported by the existence of an adequate business case. In principle, such a case could stem from a lack of sufficient coverage of the primary credit assessment source or system. Counterparties must inform the national central bank promptly of any credit event, including a delay of payments by the submitted debtors, that is known to the counterparty and, if necessary, withdraw or replace the assets. Furthermore, counterparties are responsible for ensuring that they use the most recent credit assessment updates available from their selected credit assessment system or source for the debtors or guarantors of submitted assets. Credit assessments of debtors/guarantors: The high credit standards of the debtors or guarantors of credit claims are established according to rules differentiating between public sector and non-financial corporate debtors/guarantors:
Public sector debtors or guarantors: The following rules are applied in a sequential order: If a credit assessment from the system or source selected by the counterparty (or from an ECAI in case (ii) for public sector debtors or guarantors) exists but is below the credit quality threshold, the debtor or guarantor is ineligible.
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(i) A credit assessment from the system or source selected by the counterparty exists and is used to establish whether the public sector debtor or guarantor meets the credit quality threshold.
(ii) In the absence of a credit assessment under (i), an ECAI credit assessment of the debtor or guarantor is used.
(iii) If no credit assessment is available under either (i) or (ii), the same procedure as for marketable assets applies:
The debtor or guarantor is allocated to one of three classes in accordance with the CRD as explained in Table 5.
An implicit credit assessment for debtors or guarantors belonging to classes 1 and 2 is derived from the ECAI credit assessment of the central government of the country where the debtor or guarantor is established. This implicit assessment has to meet the Eurosystem credit quality threshold.
Non-financial corporate debtors or guarantors: If the source selected by the counterparty provides a credit assessment equal to or exceeding the credit quality threshold, the debtor or guarantor is eligible. If a credit assessment from the system or source selected by the counterparty exists but is below the credit quality threshold, the debtor or guarantor is ineligible. If no credit assessment is available to establish the credit standards, the debtor or guarantor is considered ineligible.
Guarantees: A guarantee must meet the following requirements:
A guarantee is deemed acceptable if the guarantor has unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed the obligations of the debtor in relation to the payment of principal, interest and any other amounts due under the credit claim to the holder thereof until they are discharged in full. In this regard, a guarantee deemed acceptable does not need to be specific to the credit claim but might apply to the debtor only, provided that it also covers the credit claim in question.
The guarantee has to be payable on first demand (independently from the underlying credit claim). Guarantees given by public entities entitled to levy taxes should either be payable on first demand or otherwise provide for prompt and punctual payment following default. The obligations of the guarantor under the guarantee need to rank at least equally and rateably (pari passu) with all other unsecured obligations of the guarantor.
The guarantee must be governed by the law of an EU Member State and be legally valid, binding and enforceable against the guarantor.
A legal confirmation concerning the legal validity, binding effect and enforceability of the guarantee will have to be submitted in a form and with substance acceptable to the Eurosystem before the asset supported by the guarantee can be considered eligible. The legal confirmation should also state that the guarantee is not a personal one, only enforceable by the creditor of the credit claim. If the guarantor is established in a jurisdiction other than the one of the law governing the guarantee, the legal confirmation must also confirm that the guarantee is valid and enforceable under the law governing the establishment of the guarantor. The legal confirmation should be submitted for review to the national central bank in the jurisdiction of the law governing the credit claim. The need for a legal confirmation does not apply to guarantees given by public entities entitled to levy taxes. The requirement of enforceability is subject to any insolvency or bankruptcy laws, general principles of equity and other similar laws and principles applicable to the guarantor and generally affecting creditors’ rights against the guarantor.
The high credit standards for non-marketable RMBDs must meet the Eurosystem’s credit quality threshold. A jurisdiction-specific credit assessment framework for these debt instruments will be specified in the applicable national documentation by the national central banks. Acceptance criteria for credit assessment systems The ECAF builds on credit assessment information from four sources. Under each source, there might be a set of credit assessment systems. The accepted ECAIs, ICASs and third-party RTs and their providers are listed on the ECB’s website (www.ecb.int). The ECAI source encompasses those institutions whose credit assessments may be used by credit institutions for determining the risk weight of exposures according to the CRD. For the purposes of the ECAF, the general acceptance criteria for ECAIs are the following:
ECAIs must be formally recognised by the relevant EU supervisory authority for the euro area countries in which they will be used, in line with the CRD.
ECAIs must fulfil operational criteria so as to ensure the efficient implementation of the ECAF. In particular, the use of their credit assessments is subject to the availability to the Eurosystem of information on these assessments, as well as information for the comparison and the assignment (mapping) of the assessments with the ECAF credit quality steps and the credit quality threshold and for the implementation of performance monitoring (see Section 6.3.5).
The Eurosystem reserves the right to decide whether it accepts an ECAI for its lending operations, making use, among other factors, of its performance monitoring process. The ICAS source currently consists of the four credit assessment systems operated by the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Banco de España, the Banque de France and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. National central banks deciding to develop their own ICAS would be subject to a validation procedure by the Eurosystem. ICASs are subject to the Eurosystem performance monitoring process (see Section 6.3.5). Furthermore, the counterparty must inform the ICAS NCB promptly about any credit event that is known only to the counterparty, including a delay of payments by the submitted debtors. Moreover, in countries in which RMBDs are mobilised, the respective national central bank implements a credit assessment framework for this type of asset in accordance with the ECAF. Such frameworks are subject to a yearly performance monitoring process. A counterparty intending to use an IRB system to assess the credit quality of the debtors, issuers or guarantors of eligible debt instruments has to obtain the permission of its home national central bank. For that purpose, it must file a request, together with the following documents:
A copy of the decision of the relevant banking supervisory authority within the EU authorising the counterparty to use its IRB system for capital requirements purposes on a consolidated or unconsolidated basis, together with any specific conditions for such use. Such a copy is not requested when such information is transmitted directly by the relevant supervisory authority to the relevant national central bank.
Information on its approach to assigning probabilities of default to debtors, as well as data on the rating grades and associated one-year probabilities of default used to determine eligible rating grades.
A copy of the Pillar 3 (market discipline) information that the counterparty is required to publish on a regular basis in accordance with the requirements on market discipline under Pillar 3 of the Basel II framework and the CRD.
The name and the address of both the competent banking supervisor and the external auditor.
The request has to be signed by the counterparty’s chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO) or a manager of similar seniority, or by an authorised signatory on behalf of one of them. The above provisions apply to all counterparties regardless of their status – parent, subsidiary or branch – and regardless of whether the endorsement of the IRB system comes from the supervisor in the same country (for a parent company and possibly for subsidiaries) or from a supervisor in the home country of the parent (for branches and possibly for subsidiaries). Any branch or subsidiary of a counterparty may rely on the IRB system of its parent if the Eurosystem has accepted the use of the IRB system for ECAF purposes. Counterparties using an IRB system as described above are also subject to the Eurosystem performance monitoring process (see Section 6.3.5). In addition to the information requirements for this process, the counterparty is under an obligation to communicate the following information on an annual basis (or as and when required by the relevant national central bank) unless such information is transmitted directly by the relevant supervisory authority to the relevant national central bank:
a copy of the most up-to-date assessment of the counterparty’s IRB system by the counterparty’s supervisor translated in a working language of the home national central bank;
any changes to the counterparty’s IRB system recommended or required by the supervisor, together with the deadline by which such changes must be implemented;
the annual update of the Pillar 3 (market discipline) information that the counterparty is required to publish on a regular basis in accordance with the requirements of the Basel II framework and the CRD.
information on the competent banking supervisor and the external auditor.
This yearly communication has to be signed by the counterparty’s CEO, CFO or a manager of similar seniority, or by an authorised signatory on behalf of one of them. The relevant supervisor and, where applicable, the external auditor of the counterparty receive a copy of this letter from the Eurosystem. The RT source consists of third-party applications that assess the credit quality of debtors using, among other information, audited accounts. The tools have to be operated by the RT providers. Counterparties wishing to use a specific RT for ECAF purposes have to submit a request to their respective national central bank, using the appropriate template provided by the Eurosystem, complemented by additional documentation of the RT as specified in the application form. The Eurosystem decides on the acceptance of the proposed RT. The decision is based upon the evaluation of the compliance with the acceptance criteria set by the Eurosystem. Furthermore, the counterparty must inform the RT provider of any credit event that is known only to the counterparty, including a delay of payments by the submitted debtors. The RT provider participating in the ECAF needs to subject itself by agreement to the Eurosystem performance monitoring process (see Section 6.3.5). The RT provider is obliged to set up and maintain the necessary infrastructure for monitoring the so-called static pool. Construction and evaluation of the static pool have to be in line with the general requirements on performance monitoring under the ECAF. The RT provider has to undertake to inform the Eurosystem of the results of the performance evaluation as soon as it has been carried out by the RT provider. Therefore, RT providers prepare a report on the RT’s static pool performance. They have to undertake to keep internal records of static pools and default details for five years. Performance monitoring of credit assessment systems The ECAF performance monitoring process consists of an annual ex post comparison of the observed default rate for the set of all eligible debtors (the static pool) and the credit quality threshold of the Eurosystem given by the benchmark PD. It aims to ensure that the results from credit assessments are comparable across systems and sources. The monitoring process takes place one year after the date on which the static pool was defined. The first element of the process is the annual compilation by the credit assessment system provider of a static pool of eligible debtors, i.e. a pool consisting of all corporate and public debtors, receiving a credit assessment from the system satisfying the following condition: PD(i, t) ≤ 0.10 % (benchmark PD(t)) All debtors fulfilling this condition at the beginning of period t constitute the static pool for t. At the end of the foreseen 12-month period, the realised default rate for the static pool of debtors at time t is computed. On an annual basis, the rating system provider has to agree to submit to the Eurosystem the number of eligible debtors contained in the static pool at time t and the number of those debtors in the static pool (t) that defaulted in the subsequent 12-month period. The realised default rate of the static pool of a credit assessment system recorded over a one-year horizon serves as input to the ECAF performance monitoring process which comprises an annual rule and a multi-period assessment. In case of a significant deviation between the observed default rate of the static pool and the credit quality threshold over an annual and/or a multi-annual period, the Eurosystem consults the rating system provider to analyse the reasons for that deviation. This procedure may result in a correction of the credit quality threshold applicable to the system in question. The Eurosystem may decide to suspend or exclude the credit assessment system in cases where no improvement in performance is observed over a number of years. In addition, in the event of an infringement of the rules governing the ECAF, the credit assessment system will be excluded from the ECAF. Risk control measures General principles Risk control measures are applied to the assets underlying Eurosystem credit operations in order to protect the Eurosystem against the risk of financial loss if underlying assets have to be realised owing to the default of a counterparty. The risk control measures at the disposal of the Eurosystem are described in Box 7. The Eurosystem applies specific risk control measures according to the types of underlying assets offered by the counterparty. The ECB determines the appropriate risk control measures for both marketable and non-marketable eligible assets. The risk control measures are broadly harmonised across the euro area and ought to ensure non-discriminatory conditions for any type of eligible asset across the euro area. The Eurosystem currently applies the following risk control measures:
Valuation haircuts The Eurosystem applies valuation haircuts in the valuation of underlying assets. This implies that the value of the underlying asset is calculated as the market value of the asset less a certain percentage (haircut).
Variation margins (marking to market) The Eurosystem requires the haircut-adjusted market value of the underlying assets used in its liquidity-providing reverse transactions to be maintained over time. This implies that if the value, measured on a regular basis, of the underlying assets falls below a certain level, the national central bank will require the counterparty to supply additional assets or cash (i.e. it will make a margin call). Similarly, if the value of the underlying assets, following their revaluation, exceeds a certain level, the counterparty may retrieve the excess assets or cash. (The calculations relevant for the execution of margin calls are presented in Box 8.)
The following risk control measures are currently not applied by the Eurosystem:
Initial margins The Eurosystem may apply initial margins in its liquidity-providing reverse transactions. This would imply that counterparties would need to provide underlying assets with a value at least equal to the liquidity provided by the Eurosystem plus the value of the initial margin.
Limits in relation to issuers/debtors or guarantors The Eurosystem may apply limits to the exposure vis-à-vis issuers/debtors or guarantors.
Additional guarantees The Eurosystem may require additional guarantees from financially sound entities in order to accept certain assets.
Exclusion The Eurosystem may exclude certain assets from use in its monetary policy operations.
Risk control measures for marketable assets The risk control framework for eligible marketable assets includes the following main elements:
Table 6 Liquidity categories for marketable assets
Eligible marketable assets are allocated to one of four liquidity categories, based on issuer classification and asset type. The allocation is described in Table 6. Category I Category II Category III Category IV Central government debt instruments Local and regional government debt instruments Traditional covered bank bonds Asset-backed securities Debt instruments issued by central banks Jumbo covered bank bonds Credit institution debt instruments Agency debt instruments Debt instruments issued by corporate and other issuers Supranational debt instruments
Individual debt instruments are subject to specific valuation haircuts. The haircuts are applied by deducting a certain percentage from the market value of the underlying asset. The haircuts differ according to the residual maturity and coupon structure of the debt instruments as described in Table 7 for eligible marketable fixed coupon and zero coupon debt instruments.
The valuation haircuts applied to all marketable inverse floating rate debt instruments are the same for all liquidity classes and are described in Table 8.
The haircut applied to marketable debt instruments with variable rate coupons is that applied to the zero-to-one-year maturity bucket of fixed coupon instruments in the liquidity category to which the instrument is assigned.
The risk control measures applied to a marketable debt instrument with more than one type of coupon payment depend only on the coupon payments during the remaining life of the instrument. The valuation haircut applied to such an instrument is set equal to the highest of the haircuts applicable to debt instruments with the same residual maturity, and coupon payments of any one of the types occurring in the remaining life of the instrument are considered.
No valuation haircuts are applied in liquidity-absorbing operations.
Table 7 Levels of valuation haircuts applied to eligible marketable assets in relation to fixed coupon and zero coupon instruments
Depending on both the jurisdiction and national operational systems, national central banks allow for the pooling of underlying assets and/or require the earmarking of the assets used in each individual transaction. In pooling systems, the counterparty makes a pool of sufficient underlying assets available to the central bank to cover the related credits received from the central bank, thus implying that individual assets are not linked to specific credit operations. By contrast, in an earmarking system, each credit operation is linked to specific identifiable assets. (percentages) Residual maturity (years) Liquidity categories Category I Category II Category III Category IV fixed coupon zero coupon fixed coupon zero coupon fixed coupon zero coupon fixed coupon zero coupon 0-1 0.5 0.5 1 1 1.5 1.5 2 2 1-3 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 3 3 3.5 3.5 3-5 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 5-7 3 3.5 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7-10 4 4.5 5.5 6.5 6.5 8 8 10 >10 5.5 8.5 7.5 12 9 15 12 18
The assets are subject to daily valuation. On a daily basis, national central banks calculate the required value of underlying assets taking into account changes in outstanding credit volumes, the valuation principles outlined in Section 6.5 and the required valuation haircuts.
Table 8 Levels of valuation haircuts applied to eligible marketable inverse floating rate debt instruments
If, after valuation, the underlying assets do not match the requirements as calculated on that day, symmetric margin calls are performed. In order to reduce the frequency of margin calls, national central banks may apply a trigger point. If applied, this trigger point is 0.5 % of the amount of liquidity provided. Depending on the jurisdiction, national central banks may require margin calls to be effected either through the supply of additional assets or by means of cash payments. This implies that if the market value of the underlying assets falls below the lower trigger point, counterparties have to supply additional assets (or cash). Similarly, if the market value of the underlying assets, following their revaluation, were to exceed the upper trigger point, the national central bank would return the excess assets (or cash) to the counterparty (see Box 8). (percentages) Residual maturity (years) Inverse floater coupon 0-1 2 1-3 7 3-5 10 5-7 12 7-10 17 >10 25
In pooling systems, counterparties may substitute underlying assets on a daily basis.
In earmarking systems, the substitution of underlying assets may be permitted by national central banks.
The ECB may at any time decide to remove individual debt instruments from the published list of eligible marketable assets.
The total amount of eligible assets J (for j = 1 to J; value Cj,t at time t) a counterparty must provide for a set of liquidity-providing operations I (for i = 1 to I; amount Li,t at time t) is determined by the following formula: Σi=1ILi,t≤Σj=1J1–hjCj,t (1) where: hj is the valuation haircut applied to eligible asset j. Let τ be the time period between revaluations. The margin call base at time t + τ equals: Mt+τ=Σi=1ILi,t+τ–Σj=1J1–hjCj,t+τ (2) Depending on the operational features of the national central banks’ collateral management systems, national central banks may also take into account interest accrued on liquidity provided in outstanding operations in the calculation of the margin call base. Margin calls are effected only if the margin call base exceeds a certain trigger point level. Let k = 0.5 % denote the trigger. In an earmarking system (I=1), a margin call is effected when: Mt+τ>k·Li,t+τ (the counterparty pays the margin call to the national central bank); or Mt+τ<–k·Li,t+τ (the national central bank pays the margin call to the counterparty). In a pooling system, the counterparty has to bring more assets into the pool if: Mt+τ>k·Σi=1ILi,t+τ Conversely, the amount of intraday credit (IDC) available to the counterparty in a pooling system can be expressed as follows: IDC=–Mt+τ+k·Σi=1ILi,t+τ (if positive) In both earmarking and pooling systems, margin calls shall ensure that the relation expressed in (1) above is re-established. Risk control measures for non-marketable assets The risk control framework for eligible credit claims includes the following main elements:
Individual credit claims are subject to specific valuation haircuts. The haircuts differ according to the residual maturity, type of interest payment (fixed or variable) and the valuation methodology applied by the national central bank (see Section 6.5), as described in Table 9.
The haircut applied to credit claims with variable rate interest payments is 7 %, irrespective of the valuation methodology applied by the national central bank. An interest payment is considered a variable rate payment if it is linked to a reference interest rate and if the resetting period corresponding to this payment is no longer than one year. Interest payments for which the resetting period is longer than one year are treated as fixed rate payments, with the relevant maturity for the haircut being the residual maturity of the credit claim.
The risk control measures applied to a credit claim with more than one type of interest payment depend only on the interest payments during the remaining life of the credit claim. If there is more than one type of interest payment during the remaining life of the credit claim, the remaining interest payments are treated as fixed rate payments, with the relevant maturity for the haircut being the residual maturity of the credit claim.
The national central banks apply the same trigger point (if applicable) for the execution of margin calls for marketable and non-marketable assets.
Non-marketable retail mortgage-backed debt instruments are subject to a valuation haircut of 20 %. (percentages) Residual maturity (years) Fixed interest payment and a valuation based on a theoretical price assigned by the NCB Fixed interest payment and a valuation according to the outstanding amount assigned by the NCB 0-1 7 9 1-3 9 15 3-5 11 20 5-7 12 24 7-10 13 29 >10 17 41 Valuation principles for underlying assets When determining the value of underlying assets used in reverse transactions, the Eurosystem applies the following principles:
For each eligible marketable asset, the Eurosystem defines the most representative price source to be used for the calculation of the market value.
The value of a marketable asset is calculated on the basis of the most representative price on the business day preceding the valuation date. If more than one price is quoted, the lowest of these prices (normally the bid price) is used. In the absence of a representative price for a particular asset on the business day preceding the valuation date, the last trading price is used. If the reference price obtained is older than five days, or has not moved for at least five days, the Eurosystem defines a theoretical price.
The market or theoretical value of a debt instrument is calculated including accrued interest.
Depending on differences in national legal systems and operational practices, the treatment of income flows (e.g. coupon payments) related to an asset which are received during the life of a reverse transaction may differ between national central banks. If the income flow is transferred to the counterparty, national central banks ensure that the relevant operations will still be fully covered by a sufficient amount of underlying assets before the transfer of the income takes place. The national central banks aim to ensure that the economic effect of the treatment of income flows is equivalent to a situation in which the income is transferred to the counterparty on the payment day.
Non-marketable assets are assigned a value corresponding either to the theoretical price or to the outstanding amount. If the national central bank opts for the valuation corresponding to the outstanding amount, the non-marketable assets may be subject to higher haircuts (see Section 6.4.3). Cross-border use of eligible assets Eurosystem counterparties may use eligible assets on a cross-border basis, i.e. they may obtain funds from the national central bank of the Member State in which they are established by making use of assets located in another Member State. Underlying assets must be usable on a cross-border basis throughout the euro area for the handling of all types of operations in which the Eurosystem provides liquidity against eligible assets. A mechanism has been developed by the national central banks (and by the ECB) to ensure that all eligible assets issued/deposited in the euro area may be used on a cross-border basis. This is the correspondent central banking model (CCBM), under which national central banks act as custodians (correspondents) for each other (and for the ECB) in respect of assets accepted in their local depository or settlement system. Specific solutions can be used for non-marketable assets, i.e. credit claims and RMBDs, which cannot be transferred through an SSS. The CCBM may be used to collateralise all kinds of Eurosystem credit operations. In addition to the CCBM, eligible links between SSSs can be used for the cross-border transfer of marketable assets. Correspondent central banking model The correspondent central banking model is illustrated in Chart 3 below. The correspondent central banking model Use of eligible assets deposited in country B by a counterparty established in country A in order to obtain credit from the national central bank of country A. Country A Country B Information on collateral NCB A NCB B Collateral Information on collateral Credit SSS Counterparty A Custodian Transfer instructions All national central banks maintain securities accounts with each other for the purpose of the cross-border use of eligible assets. The precise procedure of the CCBM depends on whether the eligible assets are earmarked for each individual transaction or whether they are held in a pool of underlying assets.
In an earmarking system, as soon as a counterparty’s bid for credit is accepted by the national central bank of the Member State in which the counterparty is established (i.e. the home central bank), the counterparty instructs (via its own custodian, if necessary) the SSS in the country in which its marketable assets are held to transfer them to the central bank of that country for the account of the home central bank. Once the home central bank has been informed by the correspondent central bank that the collateral has been received, it transfers the funds to the counterparty. Central banks do not advance funds until they are certain that the counterparties’ marketable assets have been received by the correspondent central bank. Where necessary to meet settlement deadlines, counterparties may be able to pre-deposit assets with correspondent central banks for the account of their home central bank using the CCBM procedures.
In a pooling system, the counterparty is able at any time to provide the correspondent central bank with marketable assets for the account of the home central bank. Once the home central bank has been informed by the correspondent central bank that the marketable assets have been received, it will add these marketable assets to the pool account of the counterparty.
Specific procedures for cross-border use have been developed for non-marketable assets, i.e. credit claims and RMBDs. When credit claims are used as collateral in a cross-border context, a CCBM variant is applied to credit claims, which is based on a transfer of ownership to, an assignment to, a pledge in favour of the home central bank, or a charge in favour of the correspondent central bank acting as the agent for the home central bank. A further ad hoc variant based on the charge in favour of the correspondent central bank acting as the agent for the home central bank has been implemented to allow the cross-border use of RMBDs. The CCBM is available to counterparties (both for marketable and non-marketable assets) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ECB time (CET) on each Eurosystem business day. A counterparty wishing to make use of the CCBM must advise the national central bank from which it wishes to receive credit – i.e. its home central bank – before 4 p.m. ECB time (CET). Furthermore, the counterparty must ensure that the collateral for securing monetary policy operations is delivered to the account of the correspondent central bank by 4.45 p.m. ECB time (CET) at the latest. Instructions or deliveries not respecting this deadline will only be considered for credit given on the following business day. When the counterparties foresee a need to use the CCBM late in the day, they should, where possible, deliver the assets in advance (i.e. pre-deposit them). In exceptional circumstances or when required for monetary policy purposes, the ECB may decide to extend the closing time of the CCBM until the closing time of TARGET. Links between securities settlement systems Use of eligible assets issued in the SSS of country B held by a counterparty established in country A through a link between the SSSs in countries A and B in order to obtain credit from the national central bank of country A. Country A Country B NCB A Information on collateral Credit SSS A holds assets on an omnibus account in SSS B SSS A SSS B Transfer instruction Counterparty A Links between securities settlement systems In addition to the CCBM, eligible links between EU SSSs can be used for the cross-border transfer of marketable assets. A direct or relayed link between two SSSs allows a participant in one SSS to hold securities issued in another SSS without being a participant in that other SSS. Before these links can be used to transfer collateral for Eurosystem credit operations, they have to be assessed and approved against the standards for the use of EU SSSs. From a Eurosystem perspective, the CCBM and the links between EU SSSs fulfil the same role of allowing counterparties to use collateral on a cross-border basis, i.e. both enable counterparties to use collateral to obtain credit from their home central bank, even if this collateral was issued in an SSS of another country. The CCBM and the links between SSSs perform this function in different ways. In the CCBM, the cross-border relationship is between the national central banks. They act as custodians for one another. Using the links, the cross-border relationship is between the SSSs. They open omnibus accounts with one another. Assets deposited with a correspondent central bank can only be used to collateralise Eurosystem credit operations. Assets held through a link can be used for Eurosystem credit operations, as well as for any other purpose selected by the counterparty. When using links between SSSs, the counterparties hold the assets on their own account with their home SSS and have no need for a custodian. General considerations The ECB requires credit institutions to hold minimum reserves on accounts with the national central banks within the framework of the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system. The legal framework for this system is laid down in Article 19 of the Statute of the ESCB, Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves by the European Central Bank and Regulation (EC) No 1745/2003 of the European Central Bank on the application of minimum reserves (ECB/2003/9). The application of Regulation ECB/2003/9 ensures that the terms and conditions of the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system are uniform throughout the euro area. The amount of minimum reserves to be held by each institution is determined in relation to its reserve base. The Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system enables counterparties to make use of averaging provisions, implying that compliance with reserve requirements is determined on the basis of the average of the end-of-calendar-day balances on the counterparties’ reserve accounts over a maintenance period. Institutions’ holdings of required reserves are remunerated at the rate on the Eurosystem’s main refinancing operations. The Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system primarily pursues the following monetary functions:
Stabilisation of money market interest rates: The averaging provision of the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system aims to contribute to the stabilisation of money market interest rates by giving institutions an incentive to smooth the effects of temporary liquidity fluctuations.
Creation or enlargement of a structural liquidity shortage: The Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system contributes to creating or enlarging a structural liquidity shortage. This may be helpful in improving the ability of the Eurosystem to operate efficiently as a supplier of liquidity.
In the application of minimum reserves, the ECB is bound to act in pursuance of the objectives of the Eurosystem as defined in Article 105 (1) of the Treaty and Article 2 of the Statute of the ESCB, which implies, inter alia, the principle of not inducing significant undesirable delocation or disintermediation. Institutions subject to minimum reserve requirements Pursuant to Article 19.1 of the Statute of the ESCB, the ECB requires credit institutions established in Member States to hold minimum reserves. This implies that branches in the euro area of entities with no registered office in the euro area are also subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system. However, branches located outside the euro area of credit institutions established in the euro area are not subject to this system. Institutions will be automatically exempt from reserve requirements from the start of the maintenance period within which their authorisation is withdrawn or surrendered, or within which a decision to submit the institution to winding-up proceedings is taken by a judicial authority or any other competent authority of a participating Member State. According to Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 and Regulation ECB/2003/9, the ECB may also exempt institutions from their obligations under the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system on a non-discriminatory basis if the purposes of this system would not be met by imposing these obligations on those particular institutions. In its decision on any such exemption, the ECB takes into account one or more of the following criteria:
the institution is pursuing special purpose functions;
the institution is not exercising active banking functions in competition with other credit institutions; and/or
the institution has all its deposits earmarked for purposes related to regional and/or international development assistance.
The ECB establishes and maintains a list of institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system. The ECB also makes public a list of any institutions exempt from their obligations under this system for reasons other than their being subject to reorganisation measures. Counterparties may rely on these lists in deciding whether their liabilities are owed to another institution that is itself subject to reserve requirements. The lists, available to the public after close of business on the last Eurosystem business day of each calendar month, are valid for the calculation of the reserve base for the maintenance period beginning in the calendar month two months later. For example, the list published at the end of February would be valid for the calculation of the reserve base for the maintenance period beginning in April. Determination of minimum reserves The reserve base of an institution is defined in relation to elements of its balance sheet. The balance sheet data are reported to the national central banks within the general framework of the ECB’s money and banking statistics (see Section 7.5). For institutions subject to full reporting requirements, the balance sheet data referring to the end of a given calendar month are used to determine the reserve base for the maintenance period starting in the calendar month two months later. For example, the reserve base calculated from the balance sheet of the end of February would be used to calculate the reserve requirements to be fulfilled by counterparties in the maintenance period beginning in April. The reporting framework for the ECB’s money and banking statistics includes the possibility of relieving small institutions of some of the reporting burden. Institutions to which this provision applies only need to report a limited set of balance sheet data on a quarterly basis (as end-of-quarter data) and with a reporting deadline which is longer than that set for larger institutions. For these institutions, the balance sheet data reported for a specific quarter are used to determine, with a lag of two months, the reserve base for the consecutive three reserve maintenance periods. For example, the balance sheet of the end of the first quarter – March – would be valid for the calculation of the reserve base for the maintenance periods beginning in June, July and August. According to Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98, the ECB is entitled to include liabilities resulting from the acceptance of funds together with liabilities resulting from off-balance-sheet items in the reserve base of institutions. In the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system, only the liability categories deposits and debt securities issued are actually included in the reserve base (see Box 9). Liabilities vis-à-vis other institutions included in the list of institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system and liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB and the national central banks are not included in the reserve base. In this respect, for the liability category debt securities issued, the issuer needs to be able to prove the actual amount of these instruments held by other institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system in order to be entitled to deduct them from the reserve base. If such proof cannot be presented, issuers may apply a standardised deduction of a fixed percentage to this balance sheet item. The reserve ratios are determined by the ECB subject to the maximum limit specified in Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98. The ECB applies a uniform non-zero reserve ratio to most of the items included in the reserve base. This reserve ratio is specified in Regulation ECB/2003/9. The ECB sets a zero reserve ratio on the following liability categories: deposits with an agreed maturity of over two years, deposits redeemable at notice of over two years, repos and debt securities with an agreed maturity of over two years (see Box 9). The ECB may change the reserve ratios at any time. Changes in reserve ratios are announced by the ECB in advance of the first maintenance period for which the change is effective. The reserve requirement of each individual institution is calculated by applying, to the amount of eligible liabilities, the reserve ratios for the corresponding categories of liabilities. Each institution deducts an allowance of E100000 from its reserve requirement in each Member State in which it has an establishment. The granting of such an allowance is without prejudice to the legal obligations of institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system. The reserve requirement for each maintenance period is rounded to the nearest euro. Liabilities included in the reserve base and to which the positive reserve ratio is applied Deposits
Overnight deposits
Deposits with an agreed maturity of up to two years
Deposits redeemable at notice up of to two years
Debt securities issued
Debt securities with an agreed maturity of up to two years
Liabilities included in the reserve base and to which a zero reserve ratio is applied Deposits
Deposits with an agreed maturity of over two years
Deposits redeemable at notice of over two years
Repos
Debt securities issued
Debt securities with an agreed maturity of over two years
Liabilities excluded from the reserve base
Liabilities vis-à-vis other institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system
Liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB and the national central banks
Maintenance of reserve holdings The ECB publishes a calendar of the reserve maintenance periods at least three months before the start of each year. The maintenance period begins on the settlement day of the first main refinancing operation following the meeting of the Governing Council, at which the monthly assessment of the monetary policy stance is pre-scheduled. Under special circumstances, the published calendar may be amended, depending, among other things, on changes in the schedule of Governing Council meetings. Each institution must hold its minimum reserves on one or more reserve accounts with the national central bank in the Member State in which it is established. For institutions with more than one establishment in a Member State, the head office is responsible for fulfilling the aggregate minimum reserves of all the domestic establishments of the institution. An institution with establishments in more than one Member State is required to hold minimum reserves with the national central bank of each Member State in which it has an establishment, in relation to its reserve base in the corresponding Member State. Institutions’ settlement accounts with the national central banks may be used as reserve accounts. Reserve holdings on settlement accounts may be used for intraday settlement purposes. The daily reserve holding of an institution is calculated as the end-of-day balance on its reserve account. An institution may apply to the national central bank in the Member State in which the institution is resident for permission to hold all its minimum reserves indirectly through an intermediary. The possibility of holding minimum reserves through an intermediary is, as a rule, restricted to institutions which are constituted in such a way that part of the administration (e.g. treasury management) is normally effected by the intermediary (e.g. networks of savings banks and cooperative banks may centralise their reserve holdings). The holding of minimum reserves through an intermediary is subject to the provisions specified in Regulation ECB/2003/9. Holdings of required reserves are remunerated at the average, over the maintenance period, of the ECB’s rate (weighted according to the number of calendar days) on the main refinancing operations, calculated using the formula specified in Box 10. Reserve holdings exceeding the required reserves are not remunerated. The remuneration is paid on the second NCB business day following the end of the maintenance period over which the remuneration was earned. The holding of required reserves is remunerated according to the following formula: Rt=Ht·nt·rt100·360rt=Σi=1ntMRint where: Rt remuneration to be paid on holdings of required reserves for the maintenance period t. Ht average daily holdings of required reserves for the maintenance period t. nt number of calendar days in the maintenance period t. rt rate of remuneration on holdings of required reserves for the maintenance period t. Standard rounding of the rate of remuneration to two decimals shall be applied. i ith calendar day of the maintenance period t. MRi marginal interest rate for the most recent main refinancing operation settled on or before calendar day i. Reporting, acknowledgement and verification of the reserve base The reserve base items for the application of minimum reserves are calculated by the institutions subject to minimum reserves themselves and are reported to the national central banks within the general framework of the ECB’s money and banking statistics (see Annex 4). Article 5 of Regulation ECB/2003/9 defines procedures for the notification and acknowledgement of the reserve base and the reserve requirement of the institution. The procedure for the notification and acknowledgement of an institution’s minimum reserves is as follows. Either the relevant national central bank or the institution takes the initiative to calculate that institution’s minimum reserves for the relevant maintenance period. The calculated minimum reserves are notified by the calculating party at the latest three NCB business days before the start of the maintenance period. The relevant national central bank may specify an earlier date as a time limit for the notification of minimum reserves. It may also specify additional time limits for the institution to notify any revisions to the reserve base, and any revisions to the notified minimum reserves. The notified party shall acknowledge the calculated minimum reserves at the latest on the NCB business day preceding the start of the maintenance period. If the notified party has not replied to the notification by the end of the NCB business day preceding the start of the maintenance period, it shall be deemed to have acknowledged the amount of minimum reserves of the institution for the relevant maintenance period. Once acknowledged, the institution’s minimum reserves for the relevant maintenance period cannot be revised. For institutions that are allowed to act as intermediaries for indirect reserve holdings of other institutions, special reporting requirements are specified in Regulation ECB/2003/9. The holding of reserves through an intermediary does not change the statistical reporting obligations of institutions holding reserves via an intermediary. The ECB and the national central banks have the right, within the scope of Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98, to verify the accuracy and quality of collected data. Non-compliance with minimum reserve obligations Non-compliance with the minimum reserve obligations arises if an institution’s average end-of-calendar-day balance on its reserve account(s) over the maintenance period is less than its reserve requirement for the corresponding maintenance period. Where an institution fails to comply with all or part of the reserve requirement, the ECB may, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98, impose any one of the following sanctions:
a payment of up to 5 percentage points above the marginal lending rate, applied to the amount of the reserve requirement which the relevant institution failed to provide; or
a payment of up to two times the marginal lending rate, applied to the amount of the reserve requirement which the relevant institution failed to provide; or
the requirement for the relevant institution to establish non-interest-bearing deposits with the ECB or the national central banks of up to three times the amount of the reserve requirement which the relevant institution failed to provide. The maturity of the deposit may not exceed the period during which the institution failed to comply with the reserve requirement.
Where an institution fails to comply with other obligations under ECB Regulations and Decisions related to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system (e.g. if relevant data are not transmitted in time or are not accurate), the ECB is empowered to impose sanctions in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 2532/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions and European Central Bank Regulation (EC) No 2157/1999 of 23 September 1999 on the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions (ECB/1999/4). The Executive Board of the ECB may specify and publish the criteria according to which it will apply the sanctions provided for in Article 7(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98. In addition, in the case of serious infringements of the minimum reserve requirements, the Eurosystem may suspend counterparties from participation in open market operations.
ANNEX
ANNEX 1 Table 2: Earmarking system Table 3: Pooling system EXAMPLES OF MONETARY POLICY OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES
Date Outstanding transactions Start date End date Interest rate Liquidity provided Accrued interest Total amount to be covered Lower trigger amount Upper trigger amount Adjusted market value Margin call 28.07.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 — 50000000 49750000 50250000 50113203 — 29.07.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 5889 50005889 49755859 50255918 49795814 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 — 45000000 44775000 45225000 45130810 — 30.07.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 11778 50011778 49761719 50261837 49097560 –914218 Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 5700 45005700 44780672 45230729 44741520 –264180 02.08.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 29444 50029444 49779297 50279592 50258131 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 22800 45022800 44797686 45247914 45152222 — 03.08.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 4.08.2004 4,24 50000000 35333 50035333 49785157 50285510 50123818 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 28500 45028500 44803358 45253643 45200595 — 04.08.2004 Main refinancing 04.08.2004 11.08.2004 4,26 35000000 — 35000000 34825000 35175000 35068875 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 34200 45034200 44809029 45259371 45296029 261829 05.08.2004 Main refinancing 04.08.2004 11.08.2004 4,26 35000000 4142 35004142 34829121 35179162 34979625 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 39900 45039900 44814701 45265100 45043420 — Date Outstanding transactions Start date End date Interest rate Liquidity provided Accrued interest Total amount to be covered Lower trigger amount Upper trigger amount Adjusted market value Margin call 28.07.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 — 50000000 49750000 Not applicable 50113203 — 29.07.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 5889 95005889 94530859 Not applicable 94926624 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 — 30.07.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 11778 95017478 94542390 Not applicable 93839080 –1178398 Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 5700 02.08.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 29444 95052244 94576983 Not applicable 95487902 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 22800 03.08.2004 Main refinancing 28.07.2004 04.08.2004 4,24 50000000 35333 95063833 94588514 Not applicable 95399949 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 28500 04.08.2004 Main refinancing 04.08.2004 11.08.2004 4,26 35000000 — 80034200 79634029 Not applicable 80333458 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 34200 05.08.2004 Main refinancing 04.08.2004 11.08.2004 4,26 35000000 4142 80044042 79643821 Not applicable 80248396 — Longer-term refinancing 29.07.2004 27.10.2004 4,56 45000000 39900
EXAMPLES OF MONETARY POLICY OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES
EXAMPLE 1 Liquidity-providing reverse transaction by fixed rate tender
The ECB decides to provide liquidity to the market by means of a reverse transaction organised with a fixed rate tender procedure. Three counterparties submit the following bids: Counterparty Bid (EUR millions) Bank 1 30 Bank 2 40 Bank 3 70 Total 140 The ECB decides to allot a total of EUR 105 million. The percentage of allotment is: 10530+40+70=75 % The allotment to the counterparties is: Counterparty Bid (EUR millions) Allotment (EUR millions) Bank 1 30 22,5 Bank 2 40 30,0 Bank 3 70 52,5 Total 140 105,0
EXAMPLE 2 Liquidity-providing reverse transaction by variable rate tender
The ECB decides to provide liquidity to the market by means of a reverse transaction organised with a variable rate tender procedure. Three counterparties submit the following bids: Interest rate (%) Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total bids Cumulative bids 3,15 0 0 3,10 5 5 10 10 3,09 5 5 10 20 3,08 5 5 10 30 3,07 5 5 10 20 50 3,06 5 10 15 30 80 3,05 10 10 15 35 115 3,04 5 5 5 15 130 3,03 5 10 15 145 Total 30 45 70 145 The ECB decides to allot EUR 94 million, implying a marginal interest rate of 3,05 %. All bids above 3,05 % (for a cumulative amount of EUR 80 million) are fully satisfied. At 3,05 % the percentage of allotment is: 94–8035=40 % The allotment to Bank 1 at the marginal interest rate is, for example: 0,4 × 10 = 4 The total allotment to Bank 1 is: 5 + 5 + 4 = 14 The allotment results can be summarised as follows: Counterparties Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Total bids 30,0 45,0 70,0 145 Total allotment 14,0 34,0 46,0 94 If the allotment procedure follows a single rate (Dutch) auction, the interest rate applied to the amounts allotted to the counterparties is 3,05 %. If the allotment procedure follows a multiple rate (American) auction, no single interest rate is applied to the amounts allotted to the counterparties; for example, Bank 1 receives EUR 5 million at 3,07 %, EUR 5 million at 3,06 % and EUR 4 million at 3,05 %.
EXAMPLE 3 Issuance of ecb debt certificates by variable rate tender
The ECB decides to absorb liquidity from the market by issuing debt certificates using a variable rate tender procedure. Three counterparties submit the following bids: Interest rate (%) Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Cumulative bids 3,00 0 0 3,01 5 5 10 10 3,02 5 5 5 15 25 3,03 5 5 5 15 40 3,04 10 5 10 25 65 3,05 20 40 10 70 135 3,06 5 10 10 25 160 3,08 5 10 15 175 3,10 5 5 180 Total 55 70 55 180 The ECB decides to allot a nominal amount of EUR 124.5 million, implying a marginal interest rate of 3,05 %. All bids below 3,05 % (for a cumulative amount of EUR 65 million) are fully satisfied. At 3,05 % the percentage of allotment is: 124,5–6570=85 % The allotment to Bank 1 at the marginal interest rate is, for example: 0,85 × 20 = 17 The total allotment to Bank 1 is: 5 + 5 + 5 + 10 + 17 = 42 The allotment results can be summarised as follows: Counterparties Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Total bids 55,0 70,0 55,0 180,0 Total allotment 42,0 49,0 33,5 124,5
EXAMPLE 4 Liquidity-absorbing foreign exchange swap by variable rate tender
The ECB decides to absorb liquidity from the market by executing a foreign exchange swap on the EUR/USD rate by means of a variable rate tender procedure. (Note: The euro is traded at a premium in this example.) Three counterparties submit the following bids: Swap points (× 10000) Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Cumulative bids 6,84 0 0 6,80 5 5 10 10 6,76 5 5 5 15 25 6,71 5 5 5 15 40 6,67 10 10 5 25 65 6,63 25 35 40 100 165 6,58 10 20 10 40 205 6,54 5 10 10 25 230 6,49 5 5 235 Total 65 90 80 235 The ECB decides to allot EUR 158 million, implying 6,63 marginal swap points. All bids above 6,63 (for a cumulative amount of EUR 65 million) are fully satisfied. At 6,63 the percentage of allotment is: 158–65100=93 % The allotment to Bank 1 at the marginal swap points is, for example: 0,93 × 25 = 23,25 The total allotment to Bank 1 is: 5 + 5 + 5 + 10 + 23,25 = 48,25 The allotment results can be summarised as follows: Counterparties Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Total bids 65,0 90,0 80,0 235,0 Total allotment 48,25 52,55 57,20 158,0 The ECB fixes the spot EUR/USD exchange rate for the operation at 1,1300. If the allotment procedure follows a single rate (Dutch) auction, on the start date of the operation the Eurosystem buys EUR 158000000 and sells USD 178540000. On the maturity date of the operation, the Eurosystem sells EUR 158000000 and buys USD 178644754 (the forward exchange rate is 1,130663 = 1,1300 + 0,000663). If the allotment procedure follows a multiple rate (American) auction, the Eurosystem exchanges the amounts of euro and US dollars shown in the following table: Spot transaction Forward transaction Exchange rate Buy EUR Sell USD Exchange rate Sell EUR Buy USD 1,1300 1,130684 1,1300 10000000 11300000 1,130680 10000000 11306800 1,1300 15000000 16950000 1,130676 15000000 16960140 1,1300 15000000 16950000 1,130671 15000000 16960065 1,1300 25000000 28250000 1,130667 25000000 28266675 1,1300 93000000 105090000 1,130663 93000000 105151659 1,1300 1,130658 1,1300 1,130654 1,1300 1,130649 Total 158000000 178540000 158000000 178645339
EXAMPLE 5 Liquidity-providing foreign exchange swap by variable rate tender
The ECB decides to provide liquidity to the market by executing a foreign exchange swap on the EUR/USD rate by means of a variable rate tender procedure. (Note: The euro is traded at a premium in this example.) Three counterparties submit the following bids: Swap points (× 10000) Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Cumulative bids 6,23 6,27 5 5 10 10 6,32 5 5 10 20 6,36 10 5 5 20 40 6,41 10 10 20 40 80 6,45 20 40 20 80 160 6,49 5 20 10 35 195 6,54 5 5 10 20 215 6,58 5 5 220 Total 60 85 75 220 The ECB decides to allot EUR 197 million, implying 6,54 marginal swap points. All bids below 6,54 (for a cumulative amount of EUR 195 million) are fully satisfied. At 6,54 the percentage of allotment is: 197–19520=10 % The allotment to Bank 1 at the marginal swap points is, for example: 0,10 × 5 = 0,5 The total allotment to Bank 1 is: 5 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 20 + 5 + 0,5 = 55,5 The allotment results can be summarised as follows: Counterparties Amount (EUR millions) Bank 1 Bank 2 Bank 3 Total Total bids 60,0 85,0 75,0 220 Total allotment 55,5 75,5 66,0 197 The ECB fixes the spot EUR/USD exchange rate for the operation at 1,1300. If the allotment procedure follows a single rate (Dutch) auction, at the start date of the operation the Eurosystem sells EUR 197000000 and buys USD 222610000. At the maturity date of the operation, the Eurosystem buys EUR 197000000 and sells USD 222738838 (the forward exchange rate is 1,130654 = 1,1300 + 0,000654). If the allotment procedure follows a multiple rate (American) auction, the Eurosystem exchanges the amounts of euro and US dollars shown in the following table: Spot transaction Forward transaction Exchange rate Sell EUR Buy USD Exchange rate Buy EUR Sell USD 1,1300 1,130623 1,1300 10000000 11300000 1,130627 10000000 11306270 1,1300 10000000 11300000 1,130632 10000000 11306320 1,1300 20000000 22600000 1,130636 20000000 22612720 1,1300 40000000 45200000 1,130641 40000000 45225640 1,1300 80000000 90400000 1,130645 80000000 90451600 1,1300 35000000 39550000 1,130649 35000000 39572715 1,1300 2000000 2260000 1,130654 2000000 2261308 1,1300 1,130658 Total 197000000 222610000 197000000 222736573
EXAMPLE 6 Risk control measures
Table 1 Underlying marketable assets used in the transactions
This example illustrates the risk control framework applied to underlying assets used in the Eurosystem’s liquidity-providing operations. The example is based on the assumption that a counterparty participates in the following Eurosystem monetary policy operations: The characteristics of the underlying marketable assets used by the counterparty to cover these operations are specified in Table 1 below. Characteristics Name Asset class Maturity date Coupon definition Coupon frequency Residual maturity Haircut Asset A Asset-backed instrument 29.08.2006 Fixed rate 6 months 2 years 3,50 % Asset B Central government bond 19.11.2008 Variable rate 12 months 4 years 0,50 % Asset C Corporate bond 12.05.2015 Zero coupon rate >10 years 15,00 % Prices in percentages (including accrued interest) 28.07.2004 29.07.2004 30.07.2004 2.08.2004 3.08.2004 4.08.2004 5.08.2004 102,63 101,98 100,55 101,03 100,76 101,02 101,24 98,35 97,95 98,15 98,56 98,73 98,57 55,01 54,87
a main refinancing operation starting on 28 July 2004 and ending on 4 August 2004 where the counterparty is allotted EUR 50 million at an interest rate of 4,24 %;
a longer-term refinancing operation starting on 29 July 2004 and ending on 21 October 2004 where the counterparty is allotted EUR 45 million at an interest rate of 4,56 %; and
and a main refinancing operation starting on 4 August 2004 and ending on 11 August 2004 where the counterparty is allotted EUR 35 million at an interest rate of 4,26 %.
Earmarking system
First, it is assumed that the transactions are carried out with a national central bank using a system where underlying assets are earmarked for each transaction. The valuation of underlying assets is carried out on a daily basis. The risk control framework can then be described as follows (see also Table 2 below):
1. On 28 July 2004, the counterparty enters into a repurchase transaction with the national central bank, which purchases EUR 50,6 million of Asset A. Asset A is an asset-backed instrument with a fixed coupon maturing on 29 August 2006. It thus has a residual maturity of two years, therefore requiring a valuation haircut of 3,5 %. The market price of Asset A on its reference market on that day is 102,63 %, which includes the accrued interest on the coupon. The counterparty is required to provide an amount of Asset A, which – after deduction of the 3,5 % valuation haircut – exceeds the allotted amount of EUR 50 million. The counterparty therefore delivers Asset A for a nominal amount of EUR 50,6 million, the adjusted market value of which is EUR 50113203 on that day.
2. On 29 July 2004, the counterparty enters into a repurchase transaction with the national central bank, which purchases EUR 21 million of Asset A (market price 101,98 %, valuation haircut 3,5 %) and EUR 25 million of Asset B (market price 98,35 %). Asset B is a central government bond with variable rate coupon payments, to which a 0,5 % valuation haircut is applied. The adjusted market value of Asset A and Asset B on that day is EUR 45130810, thus exceeding the required amount of EUR 45000000. On 29 July 2004, the assets underlying the main refinancing operation initiated on 28 July 2004 are revalued. With a market price of 101,98 %, the haircut-adjusted market value of Asset A is still within the lower and upper trigger amounts. The initially pledged collateral is consequently considered to cater for both the initial amount of liquidity provided and the accrued interest amounting to EUR 5889.
3. On 30 July 2004, the underlying assets are revalued: the market price of Asset A is 100,55 % and the market price of Asset B is 97,95 %. Accrued interest amounts to EUR 11778 on the main refinancing operation initiated on 28 July 2004 and EUR 5700 on the longer-term refinancing operation initiated on 29 July 2004. As a result, the adjusted market value of Asset A in the first transaction falls below the transaction’s amount to be covered (i.e. the liquidity provided plus the accrued interest) by EUR 914218, but also below the lower trigger level of EUR 49761719. The counterparty delivers EUR 950000 of Asset A in nominal value terms, which – after deducting a 3,5 % haircut from the market value based on a price of 100,55 % – restores sufficient collateral coverage. A margin call is also needed on the second transaction since the adjusted market value of the underlying assets used in this transaction (EUR 44741520) is below the lower trigger level (EUR 44780672). The counterparty therefore provides EUR 270000 of Asset B with an adjusted market value of EUR 263143.
4. On 2 and 3 August 2004, the underlying assets are revalued, without resulting in any margin call for the transactions entered into on 28 and 29 July 2004.
5. On 4 August 2004, the counterparty repays the liquidity provided under the main refinancing operation initiated on 28 July 2004, including the accrued interest of EUR 41222. The national central bank returns EUR 51550000 of Asset A in nominal value. On the same day, the counterparty enters into a new repurchase transaction with the national central bank, which purchases EUR 75 million of Asset C in nominal value terms. Since Asset C is a zero coupon corporate bond with a residual maturity of more than ten years that requires a valuation haircut of 15 %, the corresponding haircut-adjusted market value on that day is of EUR 35068875. The revaluation of assets underlying the long-term refinancing operation initiated on 29 July 2004 reveals that the adjusted market value of the assets provided exceeds the upper trigger level by approximately EUR 262000 and leads to the national central bank returning EUR 262000 of Asset B in nominal value to the counterparty.
Pooling system
Second, it is assumed that the transactions are carried out with a national central bank using a pooling system. Assets included in the pool of assets used by the counterparty are not earmarked for specific transactions. The same sequence of transactions is used in this example as in the above example illustrating an earmarking system. The main difference is that, on the revaluation dates, the adjusted market value of all the assets in the pool has to cover the total amount of all of the counterparty’s outstanding operations with the national central bank. The margin call of EUR 1178398 occurring on 30 July 2004 is identical in this example to the one required in the earmarking system case. The counterparty delivers EUR 1300000 of Asset A in nominal value terms, which – after deducting a 3,5 % haircut from the market value based on a price of 100,55 % – restores sufficient collateral coverage. Moreover, on 4 August 2004, when the main refinancing operation entered into on 28 July 2004 matures, the counterparty may keep the assets on its pledge account. An asset can also be exchanged for another asset as shown in the example, where EUR 51,9 million of Asset A in nominal value are replaced with EUR 75,5 million of Asset C in nominal value to cover the liquidity provided and the accrued interest under all refinancing operations. The risk control framework in the pooling system is described in Table 3.
ANNEX 2 GLOSSARY
Actual/360: the day-count convention applied for the calculation of interest on a credit, implying that the interest is calculated over the actual number of calendar days over which the credit is extended, on the basis of a 360-day year. This day-count convention is applied in Eurosystem monetary policy operations. American auction: see multiple rate auction. Averaging provision: a provision allowing counterparties to fulfil their reserve requirements on the basis of their average reserve holdings over the maintenance period. The averaging provision contributes to the stabilisation of money market interest rates by giving institutions an incentive to smooth the effects of temporary liquidity fluctuations. The Eurosystem’s minimum reserve system provides for averaging. Bilateral procedure: a procedure whereby the central bank deals directly with only one or a few counterparties, without making use of tender procedures. Bilateral procedures include operations executed through stock exchanges or market agents. Book-entry system: an accounting system that permits the transfer of securities and other financial assets without the physical movement of paper documents or certificates (e.g. the electronic transfer of securities). See also dematerialisation. Central securities depository (CSD): an entity which holds and administers securities or other financial assets, holds the issuance accounts, and enables transactions to be processed by book entry. Assets may exist either physically (but immobilised within the CSD) or in a dematerialised form (i.e. only as electronic records). Close links: a situation in which the counterparty is linked to an issuer/debtor/guarantor of debt instruments by reason of the fact that: (i) the counterparty owns 20 % or more of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor, or one or more undertakings in which the counterparty owns the majority of the capital own 20 % or more of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor, or the counterparty and one or more undertakings in which the counterparty owns the majority of the capital together own 20 % or more of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor; or (ii) the issuer/debtor/guarantor owns 20 % or more of the capital of the counterparty, or one or more undertakings in which the issuer/debtor/guarantor owns the majority of the capital own 20 % or more of the capital of the counterparty, or the issuer/debtor/guarantor and one or more undertakings in which the issuer/debtor/guarantor owns the majority of the capital together own 20 % or more of the capital of the counterparty; or (iii) a third party owns both the majority of the capital of the counterparty and the majority of the capital of the issuer/debtor/guarantor, either directly, or indirectly through one or more undertakings in which that third party owns the majority of the capital. Collateral pooling system: a central bank system for managing collateral, in which counterparties open a pool account to deposit assets collateralising their transactions with the central bank. In a pooling system, by contrast with an earmarking system, the underlying assets are not earmarked for individual transactions. Collection of fixed-term deposits: a monetary policy instrument that may be used by the Eurosystem for fine-tuning purposes, where the Eurosystem offers remuneration on counterparties’ fixed-term deposits on accounts with the national central banks in order to absorb liquidity from the market. Correspondent banking: an arrangement under which one credit institution provides payment and other services to another credit institution. Payments through correspondents are often executed through reciprocal accounts (nostro and loro accounts) to which standing credit lines may be attached. Correspondent banking services are primarily provided across international boundaries but are also known as agency relationships in some domestic contexts. A loro account is the term used by a correspondent to describe an account held on behalf of a foreign credit institution; the foreign credit institution would in turn regard this account as its nostro account. Correspondent central banking model (CCBM): a mechanism established by the European System of Central Banks with the aim of enabling counterparties to use underlying assets in a cross-border context. In the CCBM, national central banks act as custodians for one another. This means that each national central bank has a securities account in its securities administration for each of the other national central banks (and for the ECB). Counterparty: the opposite party in a financial transaction (e.g. any transaction with the central bank). Credit institution: an institution covered by the definition contained in Article 4 (1) of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (recast). Thus, a credit institution is: (i) an undertaking whose business is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credit for its own account, or (ii) an undertaking or any other legal person, other than those under (i), which issues means of payment in the form of electronic money. Cross-border settlement: a settlement which takes place in a country other than the country or countries in which one or both of the parties to the trade are located. Custodian: an entity which undertakes the safekeeping and administration of securities and other financial assets on behalf of others. Day-count convention: the convention regulating the number of days included in the calculation of interest on credits. The Eurosystem applies the day-count convention actual/360 in its monetary policy operations. Default event: an event referred to in the Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) that is covered by the definition contained in the Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (recast) and Directive 2006/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on the capital adequacy of investment firms and credit institutions (recast) (together referred to as the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD)). Thus, a default event occurs when (a) the credit institution considers that the obligor is unlikely to pay its credit obligations to the credit institution, the parent undertaking or any of its subsidiaries in full, without recourse by the credit institution to actions such as realising security (if held), and/or (b) the obligor is past due more than 90 days on any material credit obligation to the credit institution, the parent undertaking or any of its subsidiaries. Delivery-versus-payment or delivery-against-payment system: a mechanism in an exchange-for-value settlement system which ensures that the final transfer of assets (securities or other financial instruments) occurs if, and only if, the final transfer of another asset (or other assets) occurs. Dematerialisation: the elimination of physical certificates or documents of title which represent ownership of financial assets, so that the financial assets exist only as accounting records. Deposit facility: a standing facility of the Eurosystem which counterparties may use to make overnight deposits at a national central bank, which are remunerated at a pre-specified interest rate. Depository: an agent with the primary role of recording securities either physically or electronically and keeping records of the ownership of these securities. Deposits redeemable at notice: the instrument category consisting of deposits for which the holder has to respect a fixed period of notice before being able to withdraw the funds. In some cases, there is the possibility of withdrawing a certain fixed amount in a specific period or of earlier withdrawal subject to the payment of a penalty. Deposits with agreed maturity: the instrument category consisting mainly of time deposits with a given maturity which, depending on national practices, may be either unconvertible prior to maturity or convertible only subject to a penalty. This category also encompasses some non-marketable debt instruments, such as non-marketable (retail) certificates of deposit. Dutch auction: see single rate auction. Earmarking system: a system for central banks’ collateral management where liquidity is provided against assets earmarked for each individual transaction. EEA (European Economic Area) countries: the EU Member States and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Electronic money: the monetary value as represented by a claim on the issuer which is: (a) stored on an electronic device, (b) issued on receipt of funds of an amount not lower in value than the monetary value issued, and (c) accepted as a means of payment by undertakings other than the issuer. End-of-day: the time of the business day (after the TARGET system has closed) at which the payments processed in the TARGET system are finalised for the day. Euro area: the area encompassing the EU Member States which have adopted the euro as their single currency in accordance with the Treaty and in which a single monetary policy is conducted under the responsibility of the Governing Council of the ECB. European System of Central Banks (ESCB): the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks of the EU Member States. It should be noted that the national central banks of those Member States which have not adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty retain their powers in the field of monetary policy according to national law and are thus not involved in the conduct of the monetary policy of the Eurosystem. Eurosystem: the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks of the Member States of the euro area. The decision-making bodies of the Eurosystem are the Governing Council and the Executive Board of the ECB. Eurosystem business day: any day on which the ECB and at least one national central bank are open for the purpose of conducting Eurosystem monetary policy operations. Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF): the set of procedures, rules and techniques that ensures that the Eurosystem’s requirement of high credit standards for all eligible assets is met. In the establishment of high credit standards, the Eurosystem differentiates between marketable and non-marketable assets. In the assessment of the credit standard of eligible assets, the Eurosystem takes into account credit assessment information from credit assessment systems belonging to one of four sources, namely external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs), NCBs’ in-house credit assessment systems (ICASs), counterparties’internal ratings-based (IRB) systems or third-party providers’ rating tools (RTs). In addition, in the assessment of the credit standard, the Eurosystem takes into account institutional criteria and features that guarantee similar protection for the instrument holder such as guarantees. The Eurosystem’s benchmark for establishing its minimum requirement for high credit standards (credit quality threshold) is defined in terms of a single A credit assessment. The Eurosystem considers a probability of default (PD) of 0,10 % over a one-year horizon to be equivalent to a single A credit assessment. External credit assessment institution (ECAI): a credit quality assessment source provided for in the Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) that comprises those institutions whose credit assessments may be used by credit institutions for the determination of risk weight exposures according to the Capital Requirements Directive. These institutions are subject to a formal recognition and validation process by the national supervisors. Final transfer: an irrevocable and unconditional transfer which effects a discharge of the obligation to make the transfer. Fine-tuning operation: a non-regular open market operation executed by the Eurosystem mainly in order to deal with unexpected liquidity fluctuations in the market. Fixed rate instrument: a financial instrument for which the coupon is fixed throughout the life of the instrument. Fixed rate tender: a tender procedure where the interest rate is specified in advance by the central bank and participating counterparties bid the amount of money they want to transact at the fixed interest rate. Floating rate instrument: a financial instrument for which the coupon is periodically reset relative to a reference index to reflect changes in short or medium-term market interest rates. Floating rate instruments have either pre-fixed coupons or post-fixed coupons. Foreign exchange swap: the simultaneous spot purchase/sale and forward sale/purchase of one currency against another. The Eurosystem executes open market monetary policy operations in the form of foreign exchange swaps where the national central banks (or the ECB) buy (or sell) euro spot against a foreign currency and at the same time sell (or buy) it back in a forward transaction. Gross settlement system: a transfer system in which the settlement of funds or the transfer of securities occurs on an instruction-by-instruction basis. Haircut: see valuation haircut. In-house credit assessment system (ICAS): a credit quality assessment source provided for in the Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) that currently comprises the four credit assessment systems operated by the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Banco de España, the Banque de France and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. Initial margin: a risk control measure that may be applied by the Eurosystem in reverse transactions, implying that the collateral required for a transaction is equal to the credit extended to the counterparty plus the value of the initial margin. Interlinking mechanism: within the TARGET system, the Interlinking mechanism provides common procedures and an infrastructure which allow payment orders to move from one domestic RTGS system to another. Internal rating-based (IRB) system: a credit quality assessment source provided for in the Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) that comprises the internal systems of those counterparties whose credit assessments may be used by credit institutions for the determination of risk weight exposures according to the Capital Requirements Directive. These systems are subject to a formal recognition and validation process by the national supervisors. International Securities Identification Number (ISIN): an international identification code assigned to securities issued in financial markets. Intraday credit: credit extended for a period of less than one business day. It may be extended by central banks to even out mismatches in payment settlements and can take the form of: (i) a collateralised overdraft, or (ii) a lending operation against a pledge or in a repurchase agreement. Inverse floating rate instrument: a structured note where the rate of interest paid to the holder of the note varies inversely with changes in a certain reference interest rate. Issuer: the entity which is obligated on a security or other financial instrument. Link between securities settlement systems: a link consists of all the procedures and arrangements which exist between two securities settlement systems (SSSs) for the transfer of securities between the two SSSs concerned through a book-entry process. Longer-term refinancing operation: a regular open market operation executed by the Eurosystem in the form of a reverse transaction. Longer-term refinancing operations are executed through monthly standard tenders and normally have a maturity of three months. Lump-sumallowance: a fixed amount which an institution deducts in the calculation of its reserve requirement within the minimum reserve framework of the Eurosystem. Main refinancing operation: a regular open market operation executed by the Eurosystem in the form of a reverse transaction. Main refinancing operations are conducted through weekly standard tenders and normally have a maturity of one week. Maintenance period: the period over which compliance with reserve requirements is calculated. The ECB publishes a calendar of the reserve maintenance periods at least three months before the start of each year. Maintenance periods begin on the settlement day of the first main refinancing operation following the meeting of the Governing Council at which the monthly assessment of the monetary policy stance is pre-scheduled. They normally end on the day preceding the similar settlement day in the following month. Under special circumstances, the published calendar may be amended, depending, among other things, on changes in the schedule of Governing Council meetings. Margin call: a procedure related to the application of variation margins, implying that if the value, as regularly measured, of the underlying assets falls below a certain level, the central bank requires counterparties to supply additional assets (or cash). Similarly, if the value of the underlying assets, following their revaluation, were to exceed the amount owed by the counterparties plus the variation margin, the counterparty may ask the central bank to return the excess assets (or cash) to the counterparty. Marginal interest rate: the interest rate at which the total tender allotment is exhausted. Marginal lending facility: a standing facility of the Eurosystem which counterparties may use to receive overnight credit from a national central bank at a pre-specified interest rate against eligible assets. Marginal swap point quotation: the swap point quotation at which the total tender allotment is exhausted. Marking to market: see variation margin. Maturity bucket: a class of assets, the residual maturity of which is within a certain range of values, e.g. the three-to-five-year maturity bucket. Maturity date: the date on which a monetary policy operation expires. In the case of a repurchase agreement or swap, the maturity date corresponds to the repurchase date. Maximum bid limit: the limit on the largest acceptable bid from an individual counterparty in a tender operation. The Eurosystem may impose maximum bid limits in order to avoid disproportionately large bids from individual counterparties. Maximum bid rate: the upper limit to the interest rate at which counterparties may submit bids in variable rate tenders. Bids at a rate above the maximum bid rate announced by the ECB are discarded. Member State: as used in this document, an EU Member State which has adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty. Minimum allotment amount: the lower limit of the amount to be allotted to individual counterparties in a tender operation. The Eurosystem may decide to allot a minimum amount to each counterparty in its tender operations. Minimum allotment ratio: the lower limit, expressed in percentage terms, of the ratio of bids at the marginal interest rate to be allotted in a tender operation. The Eurosystem may decide to apply a minimum allotment ratio in its tender operations. Minimum bid rate: the lower limit to the interest rates at which counterparties may submit bids in variable rate tenders. Monetary financial institution (MFI): one of a class of financial institutions which together form the money-issuing sector of the euro area. These include central banks, resident credit institutions, as defined in Community law, and all other resident financial institutions whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from entities other than MFIs and, for their own account (at least in economic terms), to grant credit and/or invest in securities. Multiple rate auction (American auction): an auction at which the allotment interest rate (or price/swap point) equals the interest rate offered in each individual bid. National central bank (NCB): as used in this document, a central bank of an EU Member State which has adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty. NCB business day: any day on which the national central bank of a specific Member State is open for the purpose of conducting Eurosystem monetary policy operations. In some Member States, branches of the national central bank may be closed on NCB business days owing to local or regional bank holidays. In such cases, the relevant national central bank is responsible for informing the counterparties in advance of the arrangements to be made for transactions involving those branches. Open market operation: an operation executed on the initiative of the central bank in the financial market. With regard to their aims, regularity and procedures, Eurosystem open market operations can be divided into four categories: main refinancing operations, longer-term refinancing operations, fine-tuning operations and structural operations. As for the instruments used, reverse transactions are the main open market instrument of the Eurosystem and can be employed in all four categories of operations. In addition, the issuance of debt certificates and outright transactions are available for structural operations, while outright transactions, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits are available for the conduct of fine-tuning operations. Outright transaction: a transaction whereby assets are bought or sold up to their maturity (spot or forward). Pooling system: see collateral pooling system. Post-fixed coupon: a coupon on floating rate instruments which is determined on the basis of the values taken by the reference index on a certain date (or dates) during the coupon accrual period. Pre-fixed coupon: a coupon on floating rate instruments which is determined on the basis of the values taken by the reference index on a certain date (or dates) before the start of the coupon accrual period. Purchase date: the date on which the sale of purchased assets by the seller to the buyer becomes effective. Purchase price: the price at which purchased assets are sold or are to be sold to the buyer by the seller. Quick tender: the tender procedure used by the Eurosystem for fine-tuning operations when it is deemed desirable to have a rapid impact on the liquidity situation in the market. Quick tenders are executed within a time frame of 90 minutes and are restricted to a limited set of counterparties. Rating tools (RTs): a credit quality assessment source provided for in the Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) that comprises third-party applications that assess the credit quality of debtors by using, among other information, audited accounts. These applications need to be individually accepted by the Eurosystem before becoming part of the ECAF. Repo operation: a liquidity-providing reverse transaction based on a repurchase agreement. Repurchase agreement: an arrangement whereby an asset is sold while the seller simultaneously obtains the right and obligation to repurchase it at a specific price on a future date or on demand. Such an agreement is similar to collateralised borrowing, with the difference that ownership of the securities is not retained by the seller. The Eurosystem uses repurchase agreements with a fixed maturity in its reverse transactions. Repurchase date: the date on which the buyer is obliged to sell back assets to the seller in relation to a transaction under a repurchase agreement. Repurchase price: the price at which the buyer is obliged to sell back assets to the seller in relation to a transaction under a repurchase agreement. The repurchase price equals the sum of the purchase price and the price differential corresponding to the interest on the extended liquidity over the maturity of the operation. Reserve account: an account with the national central bank on which a counterparty’s reserve holdings are maintained. The counterparties’ settlement accounts with the national central banks may be used as reserve accounts. Reserve base: the sum of the balance sheet items which constitute the basis for calculating the reserve requirement of a credit institution. Reserve holdings: counterparties’ holdings on their reserve accounts which serve to fulfil reserve requirements. Reserve ratio: the ratio defined by the central bank for each category of balance sheet items included in the reserve base. The ratios are used to calculate reserve requirements. Reserve requirement: the requirement for institutions to hold minimum reserves with the central bank. Within the minimum reserve framework of the Eurosystem, the reserve requirement of a credit institution is calculated by multiplying the reserve ratio for each category of items in the reserve base with the amount of those items on the institution’s balance sheet. In addition, institutions deduct a lump-sum allowance from their reserve requirement. Residual maturity: the time remaining until the maturity date of a debt instrument. Reverse transaction: an operation whereby the national central bank buys or sells assets under a repurchase agreement or conducts credit operations against collateral. RTGS (real-time gross settlement) system: a settlement system in which processing and settlement take place on an order-by-order basis (without netting) in real time (continuously). See also TARGET system. Safe custody account: a securities account managed by the central bank on which creditinstitutions can place securities deemed suitable to back central bank operations. Securities settlement system (SSS): a system which permits the holding and transfer of securities or other financial assets, either free of payment (FOP) or against payment (delivery versus payment). Settlement account: an account held by a direct participant in a national RTGS system with the central bank for the purpose of processing payments. Settlement agent: an institution which manages the settlement process (e.g. the determination of settlement positions, the monitoring of payment exchanges, etc.) for transfer systems or other arrangements requiring settlement. Settlement date: the date on which a transaction is settled. The settlement might take place on the same day as the trade (same-day settlement) or one or several days after the trade (the settlement date is specified as the trade date (T) + the settlement lag). Single rate auction (Dutch auction): an auction in which the allotment interest rate (or price/swap point) applied for all satisfied bids is equal to the marginal interest rate. Solvency risk: the risk of loss owing to the failure (bankruptcy) of an issuer of a financial asset or to the insolvency of the counterparty. Standard tender: a tender procedure used by the Eurosystem in its regular open market operations. Standard tenders are carried out within a time frame of 24 hours. All counterparties fulfilling the general eligibility criteria are entitled to submit bids in standard tenders. Standardised deduction: the fixed percentage of the amount outstanding of debt securities with an agreed maturity of up to two years (including money market paper) which can be deducted from the reserve base by the issuers which cannot present evidence that such outstanding amount is held by other institutions subject to the minimum reserve system of the Eurosystem, by the ECB or by a national central bank. Standing facility: a central bank facility available to counterparties at their own initiative. The Eurosystem offers two overnight standing facilities: the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility. Start date: the date on which the first leg of a monetary policy operation is settled. The start date corresponds to the purchase date for operations based on repurchase agreements and foreign exchange swaps. Strip (separate trading of interest and principal): a zero coupon bond created in order to trade separately the claims on particular cash flows of a security and the principal of the same instrument. Structural operation: an open market operation executed by the Eurosystem mainly in order to adjust the structural liquidity position of the financial sector vis-à-vis the Eurosystem. Swap point: the difference between the exchange rate of the forward transaction and the exchange rate of the spot transaction in a foreign exchange swap. TARGET (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system): the real-time gross settlement system for the euro. It is a decentralised system consisting of 15 national RTGS systems, the ECB payment mechanism and the Interlinking mechanism. Tender procedure: a procedure in which the central bank provides liquidity to, or withdraws liquidity from, the market on the basis of bids submitted by counterparties in competition with each other. The most competitive bids are satisfied first until the total amount of liquidity to be provided or withdrawn by the central bank is exhausted. Trade date (T): the date on which a trade (i.e. an agreement on a financial transaction between two counterparties) is struck. The trade date might coincide with the settlement date for the transaction (same-day settlement) or precede the settlement date by a specified number of business days (the settlement date is specified as T + the settlement lag). Treaty: the Treaty establishing the European Community. It is often referred to as the Treaty of Rome, as amended. Trigger point: a pre-specified level of the value of the liquidity provided at which a margin call is executed. Valuation date: the date on which the assets underlying credit operations are valued. Valuation haircut: a risk control measure applied to underlying assets used in reverse transactions, implying that the central bank calculates the value of underlying assets as the market value of the assets reduced by a certain percentage (haircut). The Eurosystem applies valuation haircuts reflecting features of the specific assets, such as the residual maturity. Variable rate tender: a tender procedure whereby the counterparties bid both the amount of money they want to transact with the central bank and the interest rate at which they want to enter into the transaction. Variation margin (marking to market): a certain level of the market value of the underlying assets used in the Eurosystem’s liquidity-providing reverse transactions that the Eurosystem requires to be maintained over time. This implies that if the value, measured on a regular basis, of the underlying assets falls below a certain level, the national central bank will require the counterparty to supply additional assets or cash (i.e. a margin call). Similarly, if the value of the underlying assets, following their revaluation, exceeds a certain level, the counterparty may retrieve the excess assets or cash. See also Section 6.4. Volume tender: see fixed rate tender. Zero coupon bond: a security paying only one cash flow during its life. For the purpose of this document, zero coupon bonds include securities issued at a discount and securities which deliver a single coupon at maturity. A strip is a special type of zero coupon bond.
ANNEX 3 SELECTION OF COUNTERPARTIES FOR FOREIGN EXCHANGE INTERVENTION OPERATIONS AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE SWAPS FOR MONETARY POLICY PURPOSES
The selection of counterparties for foreign exchange intervention operations and foreign exchange swaps for monetary policy purposes follows a uniform approach irrespective of the chosen organisational set-up for the Eurosystem’s external operations. The selection policy does not entail a substantial departure from existing market standards, as it has been derived from the harmonisation of the national central banks’ current best practices. The selection of counterparties to Eurosystem foreign exchange intervention operations is based, primarily, on two sets of criteria. The first set of criteria is inspired by the principle of prudence. A first prudential criterion is creditworthiness, which is assessed using a combination of different methods (e.g. using credit ratings available from commercial agencies and the in-house analysis of capital and other business ratios); a second criterion is that the Eurosystem requires all its potential foreign exchange intervention counterparties to be subject to supervision by a recognised supervisor; and, as a third criterion, all the Eurosystem’s foreign exchange intervention counterparties need to follow high ethical standards and have a good reputation. Once the minimum prudence requirement is fulfilled, the second set of criteria inspired by efficiency considerations is applied. A first efficiency criterion relates to competitive pricing behaviour and the counterparty’s ability to handle large volumes, even in turbulent market conditions. The quality and coverage of information provided by counterparties feature among other efficiency criteria. The pool of potential foreign exchange intervention counterparties is sufficiently large and diverse to guarantee the necessary flexibility when implementing intervention operations. It enables the Eurosystem to choose from among different intervention channels. In order to be able to intervene efficiently in different geographical locations and time zones, the Eurosystem can use counterparties in any international financial centre. However, in practice, a substantial share of the counterparties tend to be located in the euro area. For foreign exchange swaps executed for monetary policy purposes, the range of counterparties corresponds to the counterparties located in the euro area which are selected for Eurosystem foreign exchange intervention operations. The national central banks may apply limit-based systems in order to control credit exposures vis-à-vis individual counterparties in foreign exchange swaps conducted for monetary policy purposes.
ANNEX 4 REPORTING FRAMEWORK FOR THE MONEY AND BANKING STATISTICS OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
1. Introduction Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank defines the natural and legal persons which are subject to reporting requirements (the so-called reference reporting population), the confidentiality regime and the appropriate provisions for enforcement in accordance with Article 5.4 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (Statute of the ESCB). Furthermore, it entitles the ECB to use its regulatory power:
to specify the actual reporting population;
to define the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements and impose them on the actual reporting population of participating Member States; and
to specify the conditions under which the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) may exercise the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information.
2. General considerations The purpose of Regulation (EC) No 2423/2001 of the European Central Bank of 22 November 2001 concerning the consolidated balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector (ECB/2001/13), as amended, is to enable the ECB and, in accordance with Article 5.2 of the Statute, the NCBs – which carry out the work to the extent possible – to collect the statistical material required for the fulfilment of the tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and, in particular, its task to define and implement the monetary policy of the Community in accordance with Article 105 (2), first indent, of the Treaty establishing the European Community (Treaty). The statistical information collected in accordance with Regulation ECB/2001/13 is used to establish the consolidated balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions (MFI) sector, the principal aim of which is to provide the ECB with a comprehensive statistical picture of monetary developments covering the aggregated financial assets and liabilities of MFIs in the participating Member States, which are viewed as one economic territory. For statistical purposes, the ECB’s reporting requirements in the context of the consolidated balance sheet of the MFI sector are based on three main considerations. First, the ECB must receive comparable, reliable and up-to-date statistical information which is collected under comparable terms and conditions throughout the euro area. Although the data are collected in a decentralised way by NCBs in accordance with Articles 5.1 and 5.2 of the Statute and, as far as necessary, in combination with further statistical requirements for Community or national purposes, a sufficient degree of harmonisation and compliance with minimum reporting standards is required in view of the need to establish a reliable statistical basis for the definition and conduct of the single monetary policy. Second, the reporting obligations set out in Regulation ECB/2001/13 must observe the principles of transparency and legal certainty. The reason for this is that said Regulation is binding in its entirety and directly applicable throughout the euro area. It imposes obligations directly on natural and legal persons on which the ECB may impose sanctions whenever the ECB’s reporting requirements are not fulfilled (see Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98. The reporting obligations are therefore clearly defined and any discretion exercised by the ECB when verifying or compulsorily collecting statistical information follows identifiable principles. Third, the ECB must minimise the reporting burden involved (see Article 3 (a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98). Therefore, the statistical material collected by NCBs under Regulation ECB/2001/13 is also used to calculate the reserve base in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1745/2003 of the European Central Bank of 12 September 2003 on the application of minimum reserves (ECB/2003/9). The articles of Regulation ECB/2001/13, as amended, restrict themselves to defining, in general terms, the actual reporting population, its reporting obligations and the principles according to which the ECB and the NCBs normally exercise their competence to verify or compulsorily collect statistical information. The details of the statistical information to be reported in order to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements and the minimum standards to be followed are specified in Annexes I to IV to Regulation ECB/2001/13.
3. Actual reporting population; list of MFIs for statistical purposes MFIs comprise resident credit institutions, as defined in Community law, and all other resident financial institutions whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from entities other than MFIs and, for their own account (at least in economic terms), to grant credit and/or invest in securities. The ECB establishes and maintains a list of institutions in accordance with this definition and following the classification principles specified in Annex I to Regulation ECB/2001/13. The competence to establish and maintain this List of MFIs for statistical purposes lies with the Executive Board of the ECB. The population of MFIs resident in the euro area constitutes the actual reporting population. NCBs are entitled to grant derogations to small MFIs if the MFIs which contribute to the monthly consolidated balance sheet account for at least 95 % of the total MFI balance sheet in each participating Member State. These derogations enable NCBs to apply the method of cutting off the tail.
4. Statistical reporting obligations To establish the consolidated balance sheet, the actual resident reporting population must report statistical information related to their balance sheet on a monthly basis. Further information is required on a quarterly basis. The statistical information to be reported is further specified in Annex I to Regulation ECB/2001/13. The relevant statistical data are collected by the NCBs, which must define the reporting procedures to be followed. Regulation ECB/2001/13, as amended, does not prevent NCBs from collecting, from the actual reporting population, the statistical information necessary to fulfil the statistical requirements of the ECB as part of a broader statistical reporting framework which the NCBs establish under their own responsibility in accordance with Community or national law or established practice and which serves other statistical purposes. However, this should be without prejudice to the fulfilment of the statistical requirements set out in Regulation ECB/2001/13. In specific cases, the ECB may rely on statistical information collected for such purposes to fulfil its requirements. The consequence of a derogation being granted by an NCB as defined above is that the small MFIs concerned are subject to reduced reporting obligations (implying, inter alia, only quarterly reporting) which are compulsory in the context of minimum reserves and are specified in Annex II to Regulation, ECB/2001/13. Requirements for those small MFIs that are not credit institutions are set out in Annex III to said Regulation. However, MFIs which have been granted a derogation have the option of fulfilling the full reporting requirements.
5. Table 1a 9.1111 Simplified reporting of data required for minimum reserve requirements
Use of statistical information under the ECB regulation on minimum reserves To minimise the reporting burden and to avoid any duplication in the collection of statistical information, the statistical information related to the balance sheet reported by MFIs under Regulation ECB/2001/13 is also used to calculate the reserve base under Regulation ECB/2003/9. Indeed, for statistical purposes, the reporting agents have to report data to their respective NCBs in accordance with the framework of Table 1 below, which is included in Annex I to Regulation ECB/2001/13. In Table 1, the boxes marked with an * are used by the reporting institutions to calculate their reserve base (see Box 9 in Chapter 7 of this publication). In order to make a correct calculation of the reserve base to which a positive reserve ratio is applied, a detailed breakdown is required for deposits with an agreed maturity of over two years, for deposits redeemable at notice of over two years and for repo liabilities of credit institutions vis-à-vis the (domestic and other participating Member States) MFIs, credit institutions subject to reserve requirements, ECB and NCBs and Central government sectors, and vis-à-vis the Rest of the World (RoW). Furthermore, depending on the national collection systems and without prejudice to full compliance with the definitions and classification principles of the MFI balance sheet set out in Regulation ECB/2001/13, credit institutions subject to reserve requirements may alternatively report the data necessary to calculate the reserve base, except those on negotiable instruments, in accordance with Table 1a, provided that no bold printed positions of Table 1 are affected. Annex II to Regulation ECB/2001/13 contains specific and transitional provisions and provisions on mergers involving credit institutions in respect of the application of the minimum reserve system. Annex II to Regulation ECB/2001/13 includes, in particular, a reporting scheme for credit institutions in the tail. Credit institutions in the tail have to report, as a minimum, quarterly data necessary to calculate the reserve base in accordance with Table 1a. These institutions ensure that the reporting according to Table 1a is fully consistent with the definitions and classifications applicable in Table 1. The tail institutions’ reserve base data for three reserve maintenance periods are based on end-of-quarter data collected by the NCBs. Reserve base calculated as the sum of the following columns in Table 1 (Liabilities): (a)-(b)+(c)+(d)+(e)+(j)-(k)+(l)+(m)+(n)+(s) DEPOSIT LIABILITIES (Euro and foreign currencies combined) TOTAL DEPOSITS 9.1e + 9,1 x 9.2e + 9,2 x 9.3e + 9,3 x 9.4e + 9,4 x of which: 9.2e + 9,2 x with agreed maturity over two years of which: 9.3 e + 9,3 x redeemable at notice over two years Voluntary reporting of which: 9.4e + 9,4 x repos Outstanding issues, column (t) in Table 1 (Liabilities) NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS (Euro and foreign currencies combined) DEBT SECURITIES ISSUED 11 e + 11 x with agreed maturity up to two years DEBT SECURITIES ISSUED 11 e + 11 x with agreed maturity over two years The annex also includes provisions on reporting on a consolidated basis. On receiving authorisation from the European Central Bank, credit institutions subject to minimum reserves may carry out consolidated statistical reporting for a group of credit institutions subject to minimum reserves within a single national territory, provided that all the institutions concerned have renounced the benefit of any lump-sum allowance from the reserve requirement. The benefit of the lump-sum allowance remains, however, for the group as a whole. All the institutions concerned are included separately in the ECB’s List of MFIs. Furthermore, the annex includes provisions to be applied in the case of mergers involving credit institutions. The terms merger, merging institutions and acquiring institution have the meaning determined in Regulation ECB/2003/9. For the maintenance period within which a merger takes effect, the reserve requirements of the acquiring institution are calculated and have to be fulfilled as set out in Article 13 of said Regulation. For consecutive reserve maintenance periods, the reserve requirements of the acquiring institution are calculated on the basis of a reserve base and of statistical information in accordance with specific rules (see the table in the Appendix to Annex II to Regulation ECB/2001/13), if applicable. Otherwise, the normal rules for the reporting of statistical information and the calculation of reserve requirements, as set out in Article 3 of Regulation ECB/2003/9, apply. Moreover, the relevant NCB may authorise the acquiring institution to fulfil its obligation to report statistical information through temporary procedures. This derogation from normal reporting procedures must be limited to the minimum time possible and, in any case, should not exceed six months after the merger has taken effect. This derogation is without prejudice to the obligation for the acquiring institution to fulfil its reporting obligations in accordance with Regulation ECB/2001/13 and, if applicable, its obligation to assume the reporting obligations of merging institutions. The acquiring institution has the obligation to inform the relevant NCB, once the intention to merge has become public and in good time before the merger takes effect, of the procedures that it intends to implement to fulfil its statistical reporting obligations relating to the determination of reserve requirements.
5.
Table 1 Data required to be provided at monthly frequency (stocks)
Cells in thin print are reported solely by credit institutions subject to reserve requirements. BALANCE SHEET ITEMS A. Domestic B. Other participating Member States C. Rest of the world D. Not allocated MFIs Non-MFIs MFIs Non-MFIs of which credit institutions subject to RRs, ECB and NCBs General government Other resident sectors of which credit institutions subject to RRs, ECB and NCBs General government Other resident sectors Central government Other general government Total Other financial intermediaries + financial auxiliaries (S.123+S.124) Insurance corporations and pension funds (S.125) Non-financial corporations (S.11) Households + non-profit institutions serving households Central government Other general government Total Other financial intermediaries + financial auxiliaries (S.123+S.124) Insurance corporations and pension funds (S.125) Non-financial corporations (S.11) Households + non-profit institutions serving households (S.14+S.15) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n) (o) (p) (q) (r) (s) (t) LIABILITIES 8 Currency in circulation 9 Deposits * * * * * * * up to 1 year over 1 year 9e Euro * * * * 9.1e Overnight * * * * 9.2e With agreed maturity up to 1 year * * * * over 1 and up to 2 yeas * * * * over 2 years * * * * * * * * * * * 9.3e Redeemable at notice up to 3 months * * * * over 3 months * * * * of which over 2 years * * * * * * * * * * * 9.4e Repos * * * * * * * * * * * 9x Foreign currencies 9.1x Overnight * * * * 9.2x With agreed maturity up to 1 year * * * * over 1 and up to 2 years * * * * over 2 years * * * * * * * * * * * 9.3x Redeemable at notice up to 3 months * * * * over 3 months * * * * of which over 2 years * * * * * * * * * * * 9.4x Repos * * * * * * * * * * * 10 MMFs shares/units 11 Debt securities issued 11e Euro up to 1 year * over 1 and up to 2 years * over 2 years * 11x Foreign currencies up to 1 year * over 1 and up to 2 years * over 2 years * 12 Capital and reserves 13 Remaining liabilities BALANCE SHEET ITEMS A. Domestic B. Other participating Member States C. Rest of the world D. Not allocated MFIs Non-MFIs MFIs Non-MFIs General government Other residential sectors General government Other residential sectors Total Other financial intermediaries + financial auxiliaries (S.123+S.124) Insurance corporations and pension funds (S.125) Non-financial corporations (S.11) Households + non-profit institutions serving households (S.14+S.15) Total Other financial intermediaries + financial auxiliaries (S.123+S.124) Insurance corporations and pension funds (S.125) Non-financial corporations (S.11) Households + non-profit institutions serving households (S.14+S.15) Consumer credit Lending for house purchase Other (residual) Consumer credit Lending for house purchase Other (residual) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n) (o) (p) (q) (r) (s) (t) ASSETS 1 Cash 1e of which euro 2 Loans up to 1 year over 1 and up to 5 years over 5 years 2e of which euro 3 Securities other than shares 3e Euro up to 1 year over 1 and up to 2 years over 2 years 3x Foreign currencies up to 1 year over 1 and up to 2 years over 2 years 4 MMF shares/units 5 Shares and other equity 6 Fixed assets 7 Remaining assets
6. Verification and compulsory collection The ECB itself and the NCBs normally exercise the competence to verify and compulsorily collect statistical information whenever minimum standards for transmission, accuracy, conceptual compliance and revisions are not fulfilled. These minimum standards are set out in Annex IV to Regulation ECB/2001/13.
7. Non-participating Member States As a regulation under Article 34.1 of the Statute does not confer any rights or impose any obligations on Member States with a derogation (Article 43.1 of the Statute) and on Denmark (Article 2 of the Protocol on certain provisions relating to Denmark) and is not applicable to the United Kingdom (Article 8 of the Protocol on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Regulation ECB/2001/13 is applicable only in the participating Member States. However, Article 5 of the Statute concerning the competence of the ECB and the NCBs in the field of statistics and Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 are applicable in all Member States. This also implies, together with Article 10 (ex Article 5) of the Treaty, an obligation on the non-participating Member States to design and implement at the national level all the measures that they consider appropriate in order to carry out the collection of statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirements and the timely preparations in the field of statistics in order for them to become participating Member States. This obligation has been made explicit in Article 4 and Recital No 17 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98. For reasons of transparency, this special obligation is recalled in the recitals of Regulation ECB/2001/13.
ANNEX 5 THE EUROSYSTEM WEBSITES
Central Bank Website European Central www.ecb.int Bank Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique www.nbb.be or www.bnb.be Deutsche Bundesbank www.bundesbank.de Bank of Greece www.bankofgreece.gr Banco de España www.bde.es Banque de France www.banque-france.fr Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland www.centralbank.ie Banca d’Italia www.bancaditalia.it Banque centrale du Luxembourg www.bcl.lu De Nederlandsche Bank www.dnb.nl Oesterreichische Nationalbank www.oenb.at Banco de Portugal www.bportugal.pt Banka Slovenije www.bsi.si Suomen Pankki – Finlands Bank www.bof.fi
ANNEX 6 PROCEDURES AND SANCTIONS TO BE APPLIED IN THE EVENT OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH COUNTERPARTY OBLIGATIONS
1. Financial penalties In the event of an infringement by a counterparty of tender rules, of bilateral transaction rules, of the rules for the use of underlying assets, or of end-of-day procedures and access conditions for the marginal lending facility, the Eurosystem shall apply financial penalties as follows:
1.
(a) For infringements of rules related to tender operations, bilateral transactions and the use of underlying assets, for the first and the second infringements that occur within a 12-month period a financial penalty shall be applied to each infringement. The financial penalties that can be applied shall be computed at the marginal lending rate plus 2,5 percentage points. For infringements of rules related to tender operations and bilateral transactions, the financial penalties shall be calculated on the basis of the amount of collateral or cash which the counterparty could not settle, multiplied by the coefficient 7/360. For infringements of rules related to the use of underlying assets, the financial penalties shall be calculated on the basis of the amount of ineligible assets (or assets that may not be used by the counterparty), which are either: (i) provided by the counterparty to a national central bank or the ECB, or (ii) not removed by the counterparty after 20 working days following an event after which the eligible assets become ineligible or may no longer be used by the counterparty, multiplied by the coefficient 1/360.
(b) The first time the rules for end-of-day procedures or for access to the marginal lending facility are infringed, the financial penalties that can be applied shall be computed at the marginal lending rate plus 5 percentage points. In the event of repeated infringements, the penalty interest rate shall be increased by a further 2,5 percentage points each time this occurs within a 12-month period, calculated on the basis of the amount of the unauthorised access to the marginal lending facility.
2. Non-financial penalties
The Eurosystem shall suspend a counterparty for infringements of rules related to tender operations and bilateral transactions, and of rules for underlying assets as set out below:
2.
2.1. Suspension after infringements of rules related to tender operations and bilateral transactions If a third infringement of the same type occurs within a 12-month period, the Eurosystem shall suspend counterparties from the subsequent open market operation(s) of the same type and executed under the same procedures, to be initiated during a certain period, in addition to a financial penalty calculated in accordance with the rules outlined in Section 1. The suspension shall be applied in accordance with the following scale: These financial penalties and suspension measures shall also apply, without prejudice to sub-section c) below, to any other successive infringement during each 12-month period.
2.1.
(a) if the amount of non-delivered collateral or cash is up to 40 % of the total collateral or cash to be delivered on the occasion of the third infringement, a suspension of one month shall be applied;
(b) if the amount of non-delivered collateral or cash is between 40 % and 80 % of the total collateral or cash to be delivered on the occasion of the third infringement, a suspension of two months shall be applied; and
(c) if the amount of non-delivered collateral or cash is between 80 % and 100 % of the total collateral or cash to be delivered on the occasion of the third infringement, a suspension of three months shall be applied.
2.2. Suspension after infringements of rules for underlying assets If a third infringement occurs within a 12-month period, the Eurosystem shall suspend the counterparty from the subsequent open market operation, in addition to a financial penalty calculated in accordance with Section 1 above. These financial penalties and suspension measures shall also apply, without prejudice to sub-section c) below, to any other successive infringement during each 12-month period.
2.3. Suspension from access to all future monetary policy operations for a certain period in exceptional cases In exceptional cases where required on account of the seriousness of the case(s) of non-compliance, and taking into account in particular the amounts involved, the frequency or the duration of the cases of non-compliance, consideration could be given, in addition to a financial penalty calculated in accordance with Section 1 above, to the suspension of a counterparty from access to all future monetary policy operations for a period of three months.
2.4. Institutions located in other Member States The Eurosystem may also decide whether the suspension measure proposed to be taken vis-à-vis the non-compliant counterparty should also apply to branches of the same institution located in other Member States.
ANNEX 7 CREATION OF VALID SECURITY OVER CREDIT CLAIMS
In order to ensure that a valid security is created over credit claims and that the credit claims can be swiftly realised in the event of a counterparty default, the following additional legal requirements have to be met:
Verification of the existence of credit claims: As a minimum, NCBs shall use the following measures to verify the existence of credit claims submitted to the Eurosystem as collateral: (i) self-certification and undertaking by the counterparty to the NCB, at least every quarter, with respect to the existence of the credit claims submitted as collateral, which could be replaced with cross-checks of information held in central credit registers, where these exist; (ii) one-off verification by NCBs, supervisors or external auditors of the procedures used by the counterparty to submit the information on the existence of credit claims to the Eurosystem; and (iii) random checks by the NCBs, relevant credit registers, supervisors or external auditors of the quality and accuracy of the self-certification. The quarterly self-certification and undertaking under (i) above includes the requirement on Eurosystem counterparties to do the following in writing: In order for such checks to take place as set out under (ii) and (iii) above (one-off verification and random checks), supervisors or, especially, NCBs or external auditors must be authorised to carry out this investigation, if necessary contractually or in accordance with the applicable national requirements.
confirm and warrant compliance of credit claims submitted to an NCB with the eligibility criteria applied by the Eurosystem;
confirm and warrant that no credit claim submitted as an underlying asset is being simultaneously used as collateral to the benefit of any third party and undertake that the counterparty shall not mobilise any credit claim as collateral to any third party; and
confirm and warrant to communicate to the relevant NCB immediately but no later than within the course of the next business day any event which materially affects the actual contractual relationship between the counterparty and the NCB in question, in particular early, partial or total repayments, downgrades and material changes in the conditions of the credit claim.
Notification of the debtor about the mobilisation of the credit claim or registration of such mobilisation: Regarding notification of the debtor about the mobilisation of the credit claim as collateral, taking into consideration the specific features of different jurisdictions involved, the following is required:
pt_2 a)
In certain Member States where the notification of the debtor about the mobilisation of the credit claim as collateral is a precondition of valid mobilisation under national law, as specified by the applicable national documentation, ex ante notification of the debtor shall be a legal requirement for the eligibility of the credit claim. Ex ante notification of the debtor for eligibility purposes requires that the debtor be notified by the counterparty or the NCB (as specified by the applicable national documentation) about the credit claim being mobilised as collateral by the counterparty to the benefit of the NCB in advance or at the time of its actual mobilisation as collateral.
b)
In certain other Member States where registration with public effect of the mobilisation of the credit claim as collateral is a precondition for valid mobilisation or, in certain cases, a precondition for the priority of the credit claim under national law, as specified by the applicable national documentation, such registration shall be required in advance or at the time of its actual mobilisation as collateral.
c)
Finally, in Member States where ex ante notification of the debtor or registration with public effect of the mobilisation of the credit claim as collateral is not required in accordance with a) and b) above, as specified by applicable national documentation, ex post notification of the debtor is required. Ex post notification of the debtor requires that the debtor be notified by the counterparty or the NCB (as specified by the national documentation) about the credit claim being mobilised as collateral by the counterparty to the benefit of the NCB immediately following a credit event. Credit event means default or similar events as further defined by the applicable national documentation. There is no notification requirement in cases where the credit claims are bearer instruments for which applicable national law does not require notification. In such cases, there is a requirement to physically transfer such bearer instruments to the NCB in question in advance or at the time of their actual mobilisation as collateral. The above are minimum requirements. NCBs may decide to require ex ante notification or registration in addition to the cases above, as specified by applicable national documentation.
Absence of restrictions related to banking secrecy and confidentiality: The counterparty shall not be under the obligation to obtain the debtor’s approval for disclosure of information about the credit claim and the debtor that are required by the Eurosystem for the purpose of ensuring that a valid security is created over credit claims and that the credit claims can be swiftly realised in the event of a counterparty default. The counterparty and the debtor shall agree contractually that the debtor unconditionally consents to the disclosure of such details about the credit claim and the debtor to the Eurosystem. No such provision is necessary if there are no rules restricting the provision of such information under national law, as specified in the applicable national documentation.
Absence of restrictions on the mobilisation of the credit claim: Counterparties shall ensure that credit claims are fully transferable and can be mobilised without restriction as collateral for the benefit of the Eurosystem. There should not be any restrictive stipulation regarding mobilisation in the credit claim agreement or in other contractual arrangements between the counterparty and the debtor, unless national legislation specifically provides for the privileged position of the Eurosystem with respect to mobilisation of collateral, regardless of eventual contractual restrictions.
Absence of restrictions on the realisation of the credit claim: The credit claim agreement or other contractual arrangements between the counterparty and the debtor should not contain any restrictions regarding the realisation of the credit claim used as collateral, including any form, time or other requirement with regard to realisation.