Amendment to the criteria for assets eligible as collateral for eurosystem credit operations

The European Central Bank (ECB) is today providing further details on the assets eligible as collateral for Eurosystem credit operations.

As a result of the completion of the single collateral framework on 1 January 2007, the Eurosystem has specified that, with the exception of international or supranational institutions, issuers of marketable assets eligible for Eurosystem credit operations must be established either in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in one of the four non-EEA G10 countries ^[1]. Thus, assets issued by entities domiciled outside the EEA or the non-EEA G10 countries will not be eligible, irrespective of whether a guarantee by an entity established in the EEA is available.

Against this background, these tier one assets will lose eligibility on 1 June 2007. However, assets issued before 1 January 2007 will be grandfathered until 31 December 2011 and will only become ineligible after that date.

This decision is in line with the eligibility criteria on the place of establishment for marketable assets listed in section 6.2.1 of “The implementation of monetary policy in the euro area: General Documentation on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures” (generally known as the “General Documentation”).