Financial soundness is a precondition imposed by the Eurosystem on its counterparties to participate in monetary policy operations. The second line of defence in our credit operations is the eligibility requirements we impose for the collateral. Eurosystem credit operations need to be guaranteed by adequate collateral, complying with minimum credit quality thresholds and other legal criteria and operational requirements.
The minimum credit quality requirement in general corresponds to a BBB– rating, although in some cases the rules applied may differ.