Their creation was an unmistakable signal to market participants of the capability and willingness of the Fed to restore market functioning, and the fact that this functioning was restored so quickly, with relatively little borrowing, shows this message was received, and believed. The system worked.
Looking across the areas in which strains suggest a need for further reforms, I am struck at the prominence of the continued need to focus on vulnerabilities associated with short-term funding. In some sense, this should not be surprising. Vulnerabilities associated with short-term funding have always been at the heart of financial crises and central banks’ efforts to promote financial stability.