The official site of Italy's central bank

Instruments

The Eurosystem uses a set of instruments to implement monetary policy, namely:
- open market operations;
- standing facilities;
- minimum reserves.

Open market operations create or absorb liquidity; all banks in the euroarea that fulfil certain eligibility criteria are allowed to take part. The Bank of Italy carries out open market operations with banks in Italy, following instructions issued by the ECB and the rules and procedures agreed within the Eurosystem. The Bank is also responsible for managing assets posted as collateral in credit operations and indicates which financial assets issued in Italy may be used for that purpose.

The Eurosystem offers two standing facilities, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at the central bank; both instruments have overnight maturity and are available to counterparties on request. The Bank of Italy manages these operations with banks in Italy.

The ECB requires banks to hold deposits in accounts with the NCB as minimum reserves, which earn the same rate of interest as the main refinancing operations with the Eurosystem. The Bank of Italy assesses the amount of the reserve due from each bank in Italy and applies the penalties laid down by the ECB for non-compliance.