In enhancing the “menu” of maturities at which banks can obtain liquidity, the ECB supported the financial sector further as it made the refinancing of banks up to a certain horizon more predictable and, at the same time, less costly. Finally, also in May 2009, we added a covered bond purchase programme.
Their widespread use across a range of financial market instruments, including deposits, fixed income and credit market products, as well as derivatives, permits standardisation and generates liquidity. There is currently an estimated € trillion of EONIA-linked derivatives contracts outstanding and € trillion linked to EURIBOR.1 A further € trillion of debt securities are linked to EURIBOR.