Bank of Canada and other central banks announce that Existing Temporary Bilateral Liquidity Swap Arrangements will be converted into Standing Arrangements

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank announced on Thursday that their existing temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements are being converted to standing arrangements, that is, arrangements that will remain in place until further notice. 

The standing arrangements will constitute a network of bilateral swap lines among the six central banks. These arrangements allow for the provision of liquidity in each jurisdiction in any of the five currencies foreign to that jurisdiction, should the two central banks in a particular bilateral swap arrangement judge that market conditions warrant such action in one of their currencies.

The existing temporary swap arrangements have helped to ease strains in financial markets and mitigate their effects on economic conditions.  The standing arrangements will continue to serve as a prudent liquidity backstop. 

Bank of Canada Action

As noted above, the Bank of Canada has agreed to convert into standing arrangements the network of temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements it has with the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank. These arrangements, originally authorized through 1 February 2014, enable the Bank of Canada to provide Canadian dollars to the other central banks and to provide liquidity in U.K. pounds sterling, Japanese yen, euros, Swiss francs and U.S. dollars to financial institutions in Canada, should the need arise. The Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve have also agreed to remove the US $30 billion limit to their reciprocal swap facility.

The Bank of Canada continues to judge that it is not necessary for it to draw or offer operations on any of these swap facilities at this time, but that it is prudent to have these standing arrangements in place on an ongoing basis.

The Bank of Canada continues to monitor closely developments in global financial markets.  Should these facilities be drawn on, the details of the liquidity facilities provided would depend on the specific market circumstances at the time.

Information on related actions taken by other central banks

Information on the actions taken by other central banks is available at the following websites:

Bank of England
Bank of Japan
European Central Bank
Federal Reserve System
Swiss National Bank

For further information, please contact:

Deputy Chief
Financial Markets Department
Bank of Canada
613 782-8575

Media:

Bank of Canada
613 782-8782