The Bundesbank generally makes any holdings that it has purchased under the PSPP and the CSPP available for securities lending.

The Bundesbank has been a participant in Clearstream Banking Luxembourg’s (CBL) Automated Securities Lending (ASL) service since the start of April 2015. The ASL programme includes a fails lending service, which ensures that borrowers’ trades do not fail.

The Bundesbank has additionally been making available any holdings that it has purchased under the PSPP via CBL’s strategic lending facility ASLplus. Securities held under the CSPP that meet the programme’s minimum credit quality requirement, are also made available  for securities lending via this facility. ASLplus allows market participants to borrow these securities at a minimum spread over the current rate for general collateral. The Bundesbank offers the relevant securities on a cash-neutral basis. The maximum maturity of a securities lending transaction is 35 days.

Since the end of September 2016, the Bundesbank has also been making holdings purchased under the PSPP available for bilateral lending transactions. These are carried out as combined repo/reverse repo transactions. Since 15 December 2016, repos against cash (without an offsetting reverse repo) have also been possible. The European Master Agreement (EMA) serves as the legal basis for these transactions. The maximum maturity of bilateral transactions is seven days. Repos can also be offered on the Eurex Repo platform to a limited extent.

Public sector bonds held under the PEPP are also available for lending. The same applies for corporate bonds that meet the programme’s minimum credit quality requirement.

The Eurosystem central banks are geared towards pricing that ensures that the Eurosystem’s securities lending facilities serve as an effective backstop, i.e. they should support bond and repo market liquidity without excessively influencing usual market activity.

Further information can be requested by writing an email to bbk-seclending@bundesbank.de.

A list of the securities currently available for lending can be downloaded via the following link.