The article entitled 'The effects of the collateral easing measures adopted by the ECB and the Bank of Italy in response to the pandemic emergency', written by researchers from the Bank of Italy, is now online.
The article assesses the effects of the extraordinary measures adopted in 2020 by the ECB and the Bank of Italy to expand the value of the collateral eligible for monetary policy operations and thereby mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic crisis; it updates the article on the same topic published in June 2020. These measures, mainly intended for bank loans, increased the net worth of the assets pledged by Italian counterparties by €57 billion, or 13 per cent of the pledged collateral. Specifically, the widespread reduction in haircuts has enabled banks to swiftly meet the greater need for financing in central banks without incurring additional costs. There are still ample margins for allocating loans backed by public guarantees granted to debtors to deal with the pandemic emergency, despite the increasing uptake.
