Yesterday, March 31, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Board”) announced the creation of a temporary repurchase agreement facility for foreign and international monetary authorities (the “FIMA Repo Facility” or the “Facility”) to facilitate liquidity for central banks and other international monetary authorities. The FIMA Repo Facility is the latest … Continue Reading
Yesterday, on Sunday, March 22, 2020, U.S. Senate Republicans released the latest version of their COVID-19-related stimulus bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or CARES Act. The bill contains several measures intended to provide relief to banks, their customers, and broader financial markets. The latest version of the CARES Act includes the … Continue Reading
Today, March 20, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it has amended the terms of its recently announced Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (“MMLF”) so as to accept certain U.S. municipal short-term debt as eligible collateral and allow additional types of funds to sell eligible collateral to participating borrowers. The expansion is intended to … Continue Reading
Today, March 19, 2020, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams sent a letter to the Financial Accounting Standard Board (“FASB”), the body that is responsible for establishing U.S. generally accepted accounting practices (“U.S. GAAP”). The Chairman’s letter requests that FASB take three specific actions to ease the impact of certain U.S. GAAP standards in light of the … Continue Reading
Yesterday, on March 18, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”) announced the creation of a Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (“MMLF”) to provide liquidity support to money market mutual funds (“MMMFs”) by facilitating their sale of certain assets in order to meet redemption requests. Under the MMLF, the Federal … Continue Reading
This week, on March 17, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released two announcements (see here and here) regarding a series of no-action letters in response to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. The CFTC’s announcements come in the wake of high-profile efforts by other financial regulators to quickly address the financial and regulatory effects … Continue Reading
Yesterday, on March 17, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”) announced the creation of a Primary Dealer Credit Facility (“PDCF”) to provide a liquidity backstop to primary dealers of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”), which include the nation’s largest broker-dealers. The PDCF will provide short-term loans to … Continue Reading
Today, on March 17, 2020, the Federal Reserve provided a backstop of commercial paper (“CP”) in the form of a Commercial Paper Funding Facility (“CPFF”) that establishes a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”) to acquire eligible CP directly from eligible issuers. The CPFF will provide liquidity to CP issuers that may otherwise face issues rolling over … Continue Reading
Yesterday, on Sunday, March 15, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on U.S. and global economic activity, the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) cut the target range of the federal funds rate to 0 to 1/4 percent until such time as the FOMC is “confident that the economy has weathered recent … Continue Reading
