ZURICH, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank has stopped accepting Irish government bonds as collateral in its money market operations.
A list of changes to bonds eligible as collateral in the SNB's liquidity-providing money market operations showed that the central bank excluded euro-denominated Irish government bonds on December 21.
'They did not meet the quality criteria anymore,' SNB spokesman Werner Abegg said.
The SNB guidelines for collateral require that securities in foreign currency have a minimum rating of AA-/Aa3, though securities issued by sovereign countries and central banks can be exempted from this requirement.
SNB stopped accepting Greek government bonds in April, according to the SNB's website.
The SNB highlighted in the past that it did not lower the required standard of collateral throughout the financial crisis unlike the European Central Bank.
The list of eligible collateral plays less of a role in the SNB's policy conduct at the moment as the central bank has turned to siphoning off the excess liquidity created by its massive currency interventions through reverse repos.
For the list of SNB eligible collateral: www.snb.ch/en/ifor/finmkt/operat/snbgc/id/finmkt_repos_baskets
For the SNB's guidelines on collateral: www.snb.ch/en/mmr/reference/repo_mb22/source
(Reporting by Sven Egenter; Editing by John Stonestreet) Keywords: SWISS SNB/IRELAND (sven-markus.egenter@thomsonreuters.com; +41.58.306.7351; Reuters Messaging: sven-markus.egenter.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
A list of changes to bonds eligible as collateral in the SNB's liquidity-providing money market operations showed that the central bank excluded euro-denominated Irish government bonds on December 21.
'They did not meet the quality criteria anymore,' SNB spokesman Werner Abegg said.
The SNB guidelines for collateral require that securities in foreign currency have a minimum rating of AA-/Aa3, though securities issued by sovereign countries and central banks can be exempted from this requirement.
SNB stopped accepting Greek government bonds in April, according to the SNB's website.
The SNB highlighted in the past that it did not lower the required standard of collateral throughout the financial crisis unlike the European Central Bank.
The list of eligible collateral plays less of a role in the SNB's policy conduct at the moment as the central bank has turned to siphoning off the excess liquidity created by its massive currency interventions through reverse repos.
For the list of SNB eligible collateral: www.snb.ch/en/ifor/finmkt/operat/snbgc/id/finmkt_repos_baskets
For the SNB's guidelines on collateral: www.snb.ch/en/mmr/reference/repo_mb22/source
(Reporting by Sven Egenter; Editing by John Stonestreet) Keywords: SWISS SNB/IRELAND (sven-markus.egenter@thomsonreuters.com; +41.58.306.7351; Reuters Messaging: sven-markus.egenter.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.