Once the appropriate level of the key ECB interest rates has been set, the Executive Board of the ECB implements monetary policy so that the level of the key interest rates decided by the Governing Council actually prevails in the money market.
For this purpose, the ECB steers, primarily by means of open market operations, the liquidity which is lent to euro area credit institutions against adequate and sound collateral and for a given and short period of time. By so doing the ECB also fosters a smooth functioning of the euro area money market.