Foreign currency refinancing operations

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As part of a series of coordinated measures taken by central banks following episodes of severe tension on financial and monetary markets, from December 2007, counterparties were given the possibility of accessing US dollar term funding through fixed rate tenders. In 2013, the ECB, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and the Swiss National Bank decided to convert their temporary bilateral swap lines to standing arrangements. These arrangements constitute a network of bilateral swap lines and enable the provision of US dollar liquidity in each jurisdiction, should the market conditions warrant such actions.

From 19 March to 30 April 2023, the ECB, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve and the Swiss National Bank decided to implement a coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity via the standing US dollar liquidity swap line arrangements by increasing the frequency of seven-day maturity operations from weekly to daily.  On 25 April 2023, these central banks agreed to revert the frequency of operations from daily to weekly, as of 1 May 2023. At the same time they stand ready to re-adjust the provision of USD liquidity as warranted by market conditions.

The reference documentation for participating in US dollar operations with Banca d'Italia can be found in the section called 'The implementation of monetary policy and Emergency Liquidity Assistance' - 'Strumenti di politica monetaria - Contratti e Guide': 'Contratti' (Contratto quadro per operazioni di anticipazione di dollari statunitensi (CQ USD)) and 'Guide' (only available in Italian).