ECB amends guidelines relating to the Eurosystem’s monetary policy implementation

08 February 2018

These guidelines amend the Guideline on the implementation of the Eurosystem monetary policy, the Guideline on the valuation haircuts and the Guideline on additional temporary measures relating to Eurosystem refinancing operations and eligibility of collateral.

The new guidelines introduce changes to the monetary policy implementation framework, which include the following:

• The Eurosystem is implementing an ECB decision on the collateral eligibility criteria for unsecured bank bonds. This decision was previously announced on 14 December 2017.
• The Eurosystem is introducing haircuts for floating rate assets graduated according to maturity and is adjusting the risk control measures for retained covered bonds with extendible maturities. These changes follow up on an ECB press release of 3 November 2016.
• The Eurosystem is amending the criteria on interest payment structures for eligible credit claims and is further clarifying the haircuts assigned to floating rate assets with ceilings or floors applying to their coupon payments.
• The Eurosystem is excluding investment funds as eligible issuers and guarantors for the collateralisation of Eurosystem credit operations, taking into account their specific risks related to potential asset portfolio changes.
• The Eurosystem is excluding commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBSs) from collateral eligibility, owing to their relatively complex nature.
• The Eurosystem is amending the rules on the own-use of assets in the collateral framework.
• The Eurosystem is amending the limit on the use of unsecured bank bonds as collateral.
• The Eurosystem is providing more details on the minimum information that should be provided to the Eurosystem by firms applying for Eurosystem designation as an asset-backed security, or ABS, loan level data repository.
• The Eurosystem is phasing out its framework published in January 2014 for the assessment of securities settlement systems (SSSs) and links.
• The Eurosystem is introducing amendments to the General Documentation Guideline to implement specific aspects of the Eurosystem standards for the use of triparty agents (TPAs) in Eurosystem credit operations.

Press release

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