Marketable assets
In order to be eligible as collateral for Eurosystem credit operations, marketable assets must comply with the eligibility criteria as laid down in the "General framework" . Additional temporary measures on collateral eligibility are laid down in the “Temporary framework” , and are applicable until further notice.
Schematic overview (further details are set out in the General Documentation)
| Eligibility criteria | Marketable assets |
|---|---|
| Type of asset |
ECB debt certificates
Other marketable debt instruments: e.g. Central government debt instruments, Debt instruments issued by central banks, Local and regional government debt instruments, Supranational debt instruments, Covered bank bonds, Credit institutions debt instruments, Debt instruments issued by corporate and other issuers, Asset-backed securities. |
| Credit standards | The asset must meet credit quality requirements. The credit quality requirements are assessed using Eurosystem credit assessment framework (ECAF) rules for marketable assets. |
| Place of issue * | EEA |
|
Settlement /
handling procedures |
Place of settlement: euro area
Instruments must be centrally deposited in book-entry form with NCBs or an eligible SSS. |
| Type of issuer / debtor / guarantors | Central banks
Public sector, Private sector, International and supranational institutions. |
| Place of establishment of the issuer * / debtor / guarantor | Issuer: EEA or non-EEA G10 countries
Debtor: EEA Guarantor: EEA |
| Acceptable markets | Regulated markets
Non-regulated markets accepted by the ECB |
| Currency* | Euro |
| Cross-border use | Yes |
| * or as further specified in the “Temporary framework” | |
Proactive assessment by NCBs once the asset is issued
Prior to the publication on the ECB website in the list of eligible marketable assets, national central banks (NCBs) proactively assess the eligibility of the marketable assets. The NCB of the country where the asset is admitted to trading on a regulated market or traded on a non-regulated market is responsible for the assessment of the eligibility of the marketable asset.
The eligibility assessment process only begins once the asset is issued and all the necessary documentation mentioned below is available to the respective NCB. Both NCBs and ECB do not confirm the eligibility of an asset prior to its issuance.
Once the assessment procedure is completed, the marketable asset will be included in the list of eligible marketable assets provided it complies with the ECB’s eligibility criteria.
In case a marketable asset does not appear on the list of eligible marketable assets, but you believe it should be there, please contact the national central bank of the country in which the asset is admitted to trading on a or traded on an acceptable non-regulated market. In this case, the following information could be provided to the responsible NCB in order to facilitate the assessment procedure:
- Letters of rating from the rating agencies,
- Rating agencies pre-sale reports (not the rating agencies web pages),
- Final offering circulars for the transaction,
- ISIN codes of the security, Reuters/Bloomberg page codes,
- Confirmation of New Global Note (NGN) form, if applicable. (1)
(1) The NGN criterion only applies to international debt instruments in global bearer which are issued through the ICSD’s with XS ISIN codes. The NGN requirement does not pertain to domestic securities issued through domestic CSD’s or individual bearer or global registered international securities.
One eligibility criterion for marketable assets is that the debt instrument must be admitted to trading on a regulated market as defined in the Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments, or traded on certain non-regulated markets specified by the ECB.
Regulated markets
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) maintains a list of regulated markets which can be accessed under registers.esma.europa.eu.
Non-regulated markets
The assessment of non-regulated markets is made by the Eurosystem and is based on three principles: safety, transparency, and accessibility.
The three principles are defined by the Eurosystem exclusively in terms of the performance of the Eurosystem’s collateral management function. The selection process is not aimed at assessing the intrinsic quality of the various markets.
- Safety is taken to mean certainty with regard to transactions, in particular certainty on the validity and enforceability of transactions.
- Transparency is taken to mean unimpeded access to information on the market’s rules of procedure and operation, the financial features of the assets, the price formation mechanism, and the relevant prices and quantities (quotes, interest rates, trading volumes, outstanding amounts, etc.).
- Accessibility refers to the Eurosystem’s ability to take part in and have access to the market; a market is accessible for collateral management purposes if its rules of procedure and operation allow the Eurosystem to obtain information and conduct transactions when needed for these purposes. The current list of non-regulated markets which are deemed to comply with these three principles are listed in the table below.
| Country | Name of non-regulated market accepted by the ECB | Code for the List of eligible marketable assets |
|---|---|---|
| EU | STEP market | RMEU01 |
| Belgium | The OTC market for Belgian Treasury Bills (BTB) | RMBE05 |
| The OTC market for Belgian commercial papers | RMBE06 | |
| The OTC market for Belgian Strips | RMBE07 | |
| Euronext Growth Brussels | RMBE10 | |
| Germany | The unofficial market (“Freiverkehr”) of a German exchange | RMDE11 |
| France | Government securities (Bons du Trésor: BTF/BTAN) markets | RMFR03 |
| Negotiable European Commercial Paper NEU CP (formerly Billets de Trésorerie) market | RMFR04 | |
| Negotiable European Medium-Term Notes (formerly BMTN) market | RMFR05 | |
| Euronext Growth Paris | RMFR06 | |
| Ireland | Global Exchange Market (GEM) | RMIE02 |
| Italy | EuroTLX | RMIT08 |
| SSO Bondvision | RMIT09 | |
| ExtraMOT | RMIT10 | |
| Hi-MTF | RMIT11 | |
| Luxembourg | EuroMTF | RMLU02 |
| Netherlands | MTS Netherlands | RMNL04 |
| Austria | Third market (“Dritter Markt”) | RMAT03 |
| Portugal | Euronext Growth Lisbon | RMPT08 |
| Slovenia | MTS Slovenia | RMSI02 |
| Finland | The money market for treasury bills (Finnish Treasury Bill Programme) | RMFI04 |
| MTS Finland | RMFI05 | |
| First North Bond Market Finland | RMFI08 |
| Name of agency recognised by the ECB | Definition of agency |
|---|---|
| Caisse d'amortissement de la dette sociale (CADES) | Agency Non-Credit institution |
| Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA) | Agency Non-Credit institution |
| FMS Wertmanagement (FMS-WM) | Agency Non-Credit institution |
| Union Nationale Interprofessionnelle pour l'Emploi dans l'Industrie et le Commerce (UNEDIC) | Agency Non-Credit institution |
| Agence Française de Développement | Agency Credit institution |
| BPIFrance Financement SA | Agency Credit institution |
| Instituto de Credito Oficial | Agency Credit institution |
| Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau | Agency Credit institution |
| Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg Foerderbank | Agency Credit institution |
| Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank | Agency Credit institution |
| NRW.Bank | Agency Credit institution |
| Caisse des Dépots et Consignations | Agency Credit institution |
| Nederlandse Waterschapsbank N.V. | Agency Credit institution |
- African Development Bank
- Asian Development Bank
- Bank for International Settlements
- Caribbean Development Bank
- Council of Europe Development Bank
- Eurofima (European Company for the Financing of Railroad Rolling Stock)
- European Atomic Energy Community
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- European Financial Stability Facility
- European Investment Bank
- European Investment Fund
- European Stability Mechanism
- European Union
- Inter-American Development Bank
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- International Finance Corporation
- International Finance Facility for Immunisation
- International Monetary Fund
- Islamic Development Bank
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
- Nordic Investment Bank