Emergency liquidity assistance (ELA)

Emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) is a form of exceptional financing granted to solvent financial institutions (banks, as a rule) facing temporary liquidity needs.

These operations allow the Bank of Italy to act, on a discretionary basis, as a lender of last resort, providing temporary loans against adequate collateral. The exceptional financing disbursed by the Bank of Italy can take the form of an injection of liquidity or of collateralized securities lending.