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Full-Text Articles in Economic Policy
United Kingdom: Covid Corporate Financing Facility, Adam Kulam
United Kingdom: Covid Corporate Financing Facility, Adam Kulam
Journal of Financial Crises
During the COVID-19 crisis, sterling-denominated money markets froze, and otherwise-healthy companies were shut out of short-term, wholesale funding markets. To unfreeze these markets, the UK government announced a series of corporate funding measures. One of the measures was the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), which enabled the Bank of England (BoE), acting on behalf of Her Majesty's Treasury's, to purchase commercial paper (CP) on primary and secondary markets from eligible dealers. The purpose of the CCFF was to provide stopgap wholesale funding to large, financially healthy firms while preserving British banks' capacity to serve small and medium-sized companies. Under the …
United Kingdom: Asset Purchase Facility, Adam Kulam
United Kingdom: Asset Purchase Facility, Adam Kulam
Journal of Financial Crises
The global outbreak of COVID-19 spurred investors to sell the British gilt in a synchronized fashion, which caused dysfunction in primary and secondary gilt markets. Yield spreads spiked, and primary dealers temporarily stepped back from dealing in gilts during a trading session on March 19, 2020. Liquidity premia were also high in non-gilt, fixed-income markets. That same day, the Bank of England (BoE) announced GBP 200 billion (USD 234 billion) of asset purchases through the Asset Purchase Facility (APF) to preserve liquidity in both gilt and corporate bond markets as part of larger efforts to prevent an undesirable tightening of …
United Kingdom: Indexed Long-Term Repo Operations, Sean Fulmer
United Kingdom: Indexed Long-Term Repo Operations, Sean Fulmer
Journal of Financial Crises
Before the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–09, the Bank of England regularly used monthly Long-Term Repo (LTR) operations at a range of maturities to manage its balance sheet. As market liquidity tightened in late 2007, the Bank introduced the Extended Collateral Long-Term Repo (ELTR) program to lend larger amounts of sterling cash against a wider set of collateral at three-month maturities. In June 2010, the Bank replaced the ELTRs with the Indexed Long-Term Repo (ILTR) program to make the wider set of collateral a permanent part of its toolkit. The ILTR operations auctioned liquidity at three- and six-month maturities against …
United Kingdom: Extended Collateral Term Repo Facility, Sean Fulmer
United Kingdom: Extended Collateral Term Repo Facility, Sean Fulmer
Journal of Financial Crises
In a precautionary measure as the European debt crisis worsened in 2011, the Bank of England created a contingent liquidity insurance facility, the Extended Collateral Term Repo (ECTR) facility. This facility would swap sterling cash for eligible collateral on a short-term basis and could be implemented by the Bank’s governor, if liquidity pressures emerged. Under the initial framework, banks and building societies submitted their bids as a spread to the Bank Rate, subject to a minimum spread of 125 basis points, and paid the lowest accepted spread. In 2013, the Bank changed the name of the facility to the Contingent …
United Kingdom: Extended-Collateral Long-Term Repo, Sean Fulmer
United Kingdom: Extended-Collateral Long-Term Repo, Sean Fulmer
Journal of Financial Crises
In response to liquidity crunches in funding markets leading up to the Global Financial Crisis, the Bank of England introduced Extended-Collateral Long-Term Repo (ELTR) operations, which were a modified version of the regularly scheduled three-month open market operations. These operations were conducted by auction and accepted non-sovereign debt securities, including residential mortgage-backed securities, as collateral. The Bank of England routinely changed the frequency and size of the ELTRs in response to financial needs. At the peak, ELTRs occurred weekly with 40 billion British pounds (GBP) available for eligible institutions, and with GBP 180 billion outstanding. In order to drain this …
United Kingdom: Discount Window Facility, Sean Fulmer
United Kingdom: Discount Window Facility, Sean Fulmer
Journal of Financial Crises
As the strains of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) spread internationally in 2008, the Bank of England took measures to provide support to the financial sector. The Bank of England decided to split its Standing Facilities, which faced stigma issues, into the Discount Window Facility (DWF) and Operational Standing Facilities (OSFs). While the OSFs served to set rates and absorb technical frictions in the money markets, the DWF offered banks the opportunity to borrow Treasury-issued gilts for a fee (at a penalty rate), against a range of less liquid collateral. Initially, institutions could borrow for up to 30 days, but …
United Kingdom: Bank Of England Lending During The Panic Of 1866, Sean Fulmer
United Kingdom: Bank Of England Lending During The Panic Of 1866, Sean Fulmer
Journal of Financial Crises
In 1866, the largest discount house in London, Overend-Gurney, teetered on the verge of insolvency as a result of extensive loan losses. It appealed to the Bank of England, then a privately held joint-stock bank with a monopoly over note issuance, but the Bank refused to help Overend-Gurney on the grounds that it was insolvent. When Overend-Gurney suspended payments, a massive bank run spread throughout London, with observers remarking that an “earthquake” had torn through the City. Panicked bankers flooded to the Bank of England’s discount window, where the Bank fulfilled any “legitimate request for assistance.” Fulfillment came in two …
United Kingdom: Bank Of England Lending During The Panic Of 1825, Sean Fulmer
United Kingdom: Bank Of England Lending During The Panic Of 1825, Sean Fulmer
Journal of Financial Crises
Although historians continue to debate what exactly sparked the Panic of 1825, it is clear that by December of that year, a widespread bank run had erupted, and bankers flocked to the discount window of the Bank of England. While not yet the central bank, the Bank had special legal authority over note issuance and banking, which led to its operation as a semipublic bank. The Bank refused to accept any explicit commitment to act as a lender of last resort, despite being perceived as such by the market. The Bank initially restricted lending to protect its reserves. This policy …
Lessons Learned: James Wigand, Sandra Ward
Lessons Learned: James Wigand, Sandra Ward
Journal of Financial Crises
A finance specialist and longtime Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) executive, James Wigand served as Deputy Director, Franchise and Asset Marketing, at the FDIC from 1997 to 2010, a period encompassing the global financial crisis of 2007-09. Wigand oversaw the resolution of all insured-depository institutions during the crisis, arranging acquisitions of troubled banks or liquidating them. He also acted as liaison between the chairman and board of directors of the FDIC. In 2010, in the aftermath of the crisis, Wigand was named director of the newly created Office of Complex Financial Institutions at the FDIC, an office formed under the …
The United Kingdom's Corporate Bond Secondary Market Scheme (U.K. Gfc), Claire Simon
The United Kingdom's Corporate Bond Secondary Market Scheme (U.K. Gfc), Claire Simon
Journal of Financial Crises
In late 2008, at the height of the Global Financial Crisis, increased liquidity premia and risk aversion in the secondary market hindered companies’ ability to issue corporate bonds. In response, in January 2009, Her Majesty’s Treasury authorized the Bank of England to establish a facility to purchase commercial bonds through the Asset Purchase Facility. In March 2009, the Bank of England published details on the Corporate Bond Secondary Market Scheme, in conjunction with its quantitative easing program. Under the scheme, the Bank acted as a market maker of last resort in the secondary bond market, making regular purchases of a …
The United Kingdom's Secured Commercial Paper Facility (U.K. Gfc), Claire Simon
The United Kingdom's Secured Commercial Paper Facility (U.K. Gfc), Claire Simon
Journal of Financial Crises
In mid-2009, the Bank of England (Bank) opened the Secured Commercial Paper Facility (SCPF) as part of its larger Asset Purchase Facility (APF). Through the facility, the Bank offered to purchase secured commercial paper (SCP), a form of asset backed commercial paper, issued by approved programs from both dealers acting as principal in the primary market and after issue from secondary market holders. The facility was designed to establish the Bank as a ready buyer of SCP in the primary market and as a backstop purchaser in the secondary market. In extending the APF to include purchases of SCP, the …