FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - The European Central Bank has called for
tenders for a seven-day main refinancing operation, with a minimum bid rate of
4.00 percent, expiring May 14.
The ECB said it calculates it would need to allot 147.5 billion euros at the
refi for banks to be able to fulfil their minimum reserve requirements over the
next week.
This "benchmark" allotment figure takes account of banks' current account
holdings with national central banks and liquidity needs arising from autonomous
factors such as tax payments.
The ECB may also take account of other factors in its allotment decision,
which will be announced Tuesday.
Bids with the highest interest rates will be satisfied first and bids with
successively lower interest rates will be accepted until the total liquidity to
be allotted is exhausted.
At the last main refi on April 29, the weighted average interest rate on
accepted bids was 4.29 percent. The marginal rate -- the lowest rate at which
bids were accepted -- was 4.26 percent.
christoph.steitz@thomsonreuters.com
cs1/nes
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