Opinion of the European Central Bank of 23 October 2012 on open market operations and standing facilities (CON/2012/78)
Date: 2012-10-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Romania, monetary policy, money-market liquidity, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 23 October 2012  

on open market operations and standing facilities 

(CON/2012/78) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  2  October  2012,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  Banca  Naţională  a 

României  (BNR)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  regulation  amending  BNR  Regulation  No  1/2000  on  open 

market  operations  performed  by  Banca  Naţională  a  României  and  standing  facilities  granted  to  eligible 
participants1 (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and Article 2(2) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on 

the  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national  authorities  regarding  draft  legislative 
provisions2, as the draft regulation relates to instruments of monetary policy. In accordance with the first 

sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 

has adopted this opinion. 

1.  

Purpose of the draft regulation 

The  draft  regulation  repeals  the  restriction  on  the  number  of  options  in  the  bids  submitted  by  eligible 

participants  for  variable-rate  tenders  organised  by  BNR  for  the  purposes  of  open  market  operations,  as 

such  restriction  may  have  a  negative  impact  on  the  interbank  Romanian  leu  money  market  liquidity  in 

certain difficult market situations. This is in line with the commitments under the precautionary financial 

assistance programme with the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank. 

The  draft  regulation  also  rearranges  the  wording  of  BNR  Regulation  No  1/2000  relating  to  the 

requirement that eligible participants in BNR’s open market operations must be subject to the minimum 

reserve regime, in accordance with BNR’s regulations, for greater clarity and terminological consistency. 

2. 

Specific observations  

2.1  The  amended  Article  34  of  BNR  Regulation  No  1/2000  will  no  longer  refer  to  ‘variable-rate 

tenders’ and, therefore, the concept of ‘bids’ under Article 34 will encompass bids for both fixed-

rate  and  variable-rate  tenders  performed  for  the  purposes  of  BNR’s  open  market  operations.  The 

1  
2  

Monitorul Oficial al României, Part One, No 142, 5.4.2000. 
OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

ECB  understands  that,  under  the  amended  Article  34  of  BNR  Regulation  No 1/2000,  options  for 

different  amounts  in  the  fixed-rate  tenders  refer  to  the  amounts  with  collateral  from  different 

International Security Identification Numbers for operations requiring eligible assets as collateral. 

The  ECB  further  understands  that  BNR  will  also  modify  the  operating  procedures  pursuant  to 

Article 43 of BNR Regulation No 1/2000.   

2.2  The  ECB  welcomes  the  clarification  of  the  requirement  that  eligible  participants  in  BNR’s  open 

market operations must be subject to the minimum reserve regime. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website three weeks after the date of its adoption. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 October 2012. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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