Reuters: Coeuré - ECB holds €50 billion in SME-tied assets

24 June 2013

ECB Executive Board member Benoît Coeuré said that the European Central Bank has €50 billion in asset-backed securities based on loans to small and mid-sized firms and could take on more in the right conditions.

Coeuré said that the ECB had already since last year taken on asset-backed securities (ABS) that pool together loans to SMEs in a measure aimed at helping such firms. "On our balance sheet, we've got about €50 billion in ABS-based on pools of SME loans", he said. "We've got about €50 billion - before the haircuts - in direct claims on non-financial companies."

That figure compares with a total of €338 billion of ABS posted as collateral at the ECB at the end of the first quarter. Coeuré said the ECB could take on more ABS based on SME loans depending on the risk and transparency of the underlying loans making them up. "Then the European Central Bank will also take that into account in its collateral policy", he added.

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