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ECB Press Conference - 8 December 2011

1,987 views · Published 8 December 2011 · 16:31 · Indexed 22 September 2026

Channel: European Central Bank · 2011 · News & Politics

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At its meeting held on 8 December 2011 the Governing Council of the ECB took the following monetary policy decisions:

The interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem will be decreased by 25 basis points to 1.00%, starting from the operation to be settled on 14 December 2011.

The interest rate on the marginal lending facility will be decreased by 25 basis points to 1.75%, with effect from 14 December 2011. 

The interest rate on the deposit facility will be decreased by 25 basis points to 0.25%, with effect from 14 December 2011. 

The Governing Council has today decided on additional enhanced credit support measures to support bank lending and liquidity in the euro area money market. In particular, the Governing Council has decided:

To conduct two longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) with a maturity of 36 months and the option of early repayment after one year. 

To discontinue for the time being, as of the maintenance period starting on 14 December 2011, the fine-tuning operations carried out on the last day of each maintenance period.

To reduce the reserve ratio, which is currently 2%, to 1% as of the reserve maintenance period starting on 18 January 2012. As a consequence of the full allotment policy applied in the ECB's main refinancing operations and the way banks are using this option, the system of reserve requirements is not needed to the same extent as under normal circumstances to steer money market conditions.

To increase collateral availability by (i) reducing the rating threshold for certain asset-backed securities (ABS) and (ii) allowing national central banks (NCBs), as a temporary solution, to accept as collateral additional performing credit claims (i.e. bank loans) that satisfy specific eligibility criteria. These two measures will take effect as soon as the relevant legal acts have been published.

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