In particular, as of September 22, the maximum bid limit per counterparty was raised from $ billion to $ billion, an overall size limit of $ billion per operation was imposed, and an auction process was introduced to determine the interest  13  Indeed, even prior to 2008, the range of fed funds trading on a given day could be quite wide, and the effective rate deviated significantly at times from the target rate for a day or two. This did not have any apparent effect on financial conditions or the economy. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  rate on the operation and allocate take-up when the sum of bids exceeds the new $ billion limit. 14 The $ billion individual bid limit was informed by evidence on the desired investments of counterparties that had bid at the previous maximum of $ billion, and it took into account the size of assets under management of our counterparties. For almost all counterparties, the $ billion limit is unlikely to be binding in any circumstances. The $ billion overall limit was above total demand observed over the first year of testing, with the exception of the operation conducted at the end of the second quarter of this year. So what are the benefits of moving from a structure with individual caps alone to one with an aggregate cap as well?
The results of the testing over the first year suggest that the operations have been successful working with IOER to establish a floor for the level of money market rates. Our analysis has found that, offered at a spread of 20 basis points to the IOER rate, ON RRPs have kept overnight repo rates above where they would otherwise have been, in part by influencing the bargaining power of our counterparties. All of the Desk’s eligible RRP counterparty types participate in the operations, with money funds accounting for the largest share of take-up. Take-up generally increases when the spread between market rates and the ON RRP offered rate narrows. Take-up also rises substantially around quarter- and year-end financial reporting dates, when some money market participants’ access to other overnight investments is more limited. To further examine how ON RRPs might best be structured to supplement IOER in controlling the fed funds rate while limiting the potential for unintended effects in financial markets, the FOMC recently directed the Desk to make several changes to the design of its ON RRP operations.