Regulation (EC) No 1053/2008 of the European Central Bank of 23 October 2008 on temporary changes to the rules relating to eligibility of collateral (ECB/2008/11)
Date: 2008-10-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Economic and Monetary Union, European Central Bank, central bank, claim, credit guarantee

25.10.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 282/17

REGULATION (EC) No 1053/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 23 October 2008

on temporary changes to the rules relating to eligibility of collateral

(ECB/2008/11)

(1)

(2)

(3)

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community
in particular
and
Article 105(2) and to Article 110 thereof,

establishing the European
indent of
first
to the

Having regard to the Statute of the European System of Central
Banks and of the European Central Bank and in particular to
the first indent of Article 34.1,
in conjunction with the first
indent of Article 3.1 and Article 18.2 thereof,

Whereas:

To enhance on a temporary basis the provision of
liquidity to counterparties
for Eurosystem monetary
policy operations, the criteria determining the eligibility
of collateral that counterparties for Eurosystem monetary
policy operations provide to the Eurosystem to obtain
liquidity should be widened. The criteria determining
the eligibility of collateral are laid down in Guideline
ECB/2000/7 of 31 August 2000 on monetary policy
instruments and procedures of the Eurosystem (1).

2.
In the event of any discrepancy between this Regulation
and the General Documentation, as implemented at national
level by the NCBs, the former shall prevail. The NCBs shall
continue to apply all provisions of the General Documentation
unaltered unless otherwise provided for in this Regulation.

Article 2

Admission of collateral denominated in US dollars, pounds
sterling or Japanese yen as eligible collateral

1. Marketable debt instruments as described in Section 6.2.1
if denominated in US dollars,
of the General Documentation,
sterling or
pounds
shall constitute eligible
the purposes of Eurosystem monetary policy
for
collateral
(i) they are issued and held/settled
operations, provided that:
in the euro area; and (ii)
the issuer is established in the
European Economic Area.

Japanese yen,

An additional haircut of 8 % shall be imposed by the

2.
Eurosystem on all such marketable debt instruments.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank
(ECB) decided on 15 October 2008 to widen temporarily
the rules relating to the eligibility of collateral for the
operations of the Eurosystem. The Governing Council
furthermore decided that the date of entry into force of
its decision as well as any further measures regarding
such widened eligibility criteria would be communicated
as soon as possible.

Article 3

Admission of syndicated loans governed by the laws of
England and Wales as eligible collateral

1.
the
Syndicated loans as described in Section 6.2.2 of
General Documentation governed by the laws of England and
Wales shall constitute eligible collateral
for the purposes of
Eurosystem monetary policy operations.

In order to implement the above mentioned decision in a
manner which allows its immediate application, recourse
has to be made to a regulation, which does not require
further executing measures by the national central banks
of the Member States that have adopted the euro (here­
inafter the NCBs). This Regulation is to be in force for a
limited period of time and will be replaced by an ECB
Guideline,

Furthermore, the requirement laid down in Section 6.2.2
2.
of the General Documentation, according to which the total
the
number of governing laws
counterparty;
the
guarantor (if relevant); (v) the credit claim agreement; and (vi)
the mobilisation agreement may not exceed two, shall be
amended in the case of such syndicated loans so that
the
total number of governing laws may not exceed three.

that are applicable to:

the debtor;

creditor;

(i)
(iv)

(iii)

the

(ii)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Widening of certain eligibility criteria for collateral

1.
The eligibility criteria for collateral laid down in Annex I
to Guideline ECB/2000/7 (hereinafter the General Documen­
tation) shall be widened in accordance with Articles 2 to 7.

(1) OJ L 310, 11.12.2000, p. 1.

Article 4

of

Admission
credit
institutions, which are traded on certain non-regulated
markets as eligible collateral

instruments

issued

debt

by

1.
Debt instruments issued by credit institutions, which are
traded on certain non-regulated markets, as specified by the ECB
shall constitute eligible collateral for the purposes of Eurosystem
monetary policy operations.

L 282/18

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

25.10.2008

An additional haircut of 5 % shall be imposed by the

2.
Eurosystem on all such debt instruments.

The

Article 5
Admission of collateral with a ‘BBB-’ credit assessment and
above as eligible collateral
Eurosystem’s minimum requirement
1.
the
assessment of the credit standard of assets eligible as collateral
for the purposes of Eurosystem monetary policy operations
shall be a ‘BBB-’ equivalent credit assessment. This change to
the
to both
requirement
marketable and non-marketable assets, with the exception of
the
asset-backed securities as described in Section 6.3 of
General Documentation, for which the requirement for high
credit standards shall remain unchanged.

assessment

credit

apply

shall

for

2.
An additional haircut of 5 % shall be imposed by the
Eurosystem on all eligible assets with a credit assessment
below ‘A-’.

Article 6

Admission of subordinated assets with adequate guarantees
as eligible collateral

1.
The requirement of non-subordination relating to the
eligibility of marketable assets as collateral for the purposes of
Eurosystem monetary policy operations as described in Section
6.2.1 of the General Documentation shall not apply when a
financially sound guarantor provides an unconditional and irre­
vocable guarantee payable on first demand on these assets, as
further defined in Section 6.3.2 of the General Documentation.

2.
An additional haircut of 10 % shall be imposed by the
Eurosystem on all such assets, with a further 5 % valuation
markdown in the event of a theoretical valuation.

Article 7

Admission of fixed-term deposits as eligible collateral

Fixed-term deposits as described in Section 3.5 of the General
Documentation from eligible counterparties shall be eligible as
collateral for all refinancing operations of the Eurosystem.

Article 8

Further implementation measures

The Governing Council has delegated the competence to take
any further decisions which are necessary to implement
its
decision of 15 October 2008 to the Executive Board.

Article 9

Final provisions

1.
This Regulation shall enter into force on 25 October
2008. Articles 2 and 3 shall apply as from 14 November 2008.

2.

This Regulation shall apply until 30 November 2008.

This Regulation shall be published without delay on the

3.
ECB’s website.

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 October 2008.

For the Governing Council of the ECB
The President of the ECB

Jean-Claude TRICHET