Back

Term auction facility

The Term Auction Facility (TAF) was a temporary program managed by the United States Federal Reserve designed to "address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets."[1] Under the program the Fed auctions collateralized loans with terms of 28 and 84 days to depository institutions that are "in generally sound financial condition" and "are expected to remain so over the terms of TAF loans." Eligible collateral is the same as that accepted for discount window loans and includes a wide range of financial assets.[2] The program was instituted in December 2007 in response to problems associated with the subprime mortgage crisis and was motivated by a desire to address a widening spread between interest rates on overnight and term (longer than overnight) interbank lending, indicating a retreat from risk-taking by banks.[3] The action was in coordination with simultaneous and similar initiatives undertaken by the Bank of Canada,[4] the Bank of England,[5] the European Central Bank[6] and the Swiss National Bank.[7]

  1. ^ "Federal Reserve and other central banks announce measures designed to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets" (Press release). Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  2. ^ "Term Auction Facility Questions and Answers". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. 2008-07-30. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  3. ^ Taylor, John B.; Williams, John C. (2008-04-02). "A Black Swan in the Money Market" (PDF). Working Paper: 1.
  4. ^ "Bank of Canada Temporarily Expands List of Securities Eligible for Term PRA Transactions" (Press release). Bank of Canada. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  5. ^ "Central Bank Measures to Address Elevated Pressures in Short-term Funding Markets" (Press release). Bank of England. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  6. ^ "Measures designed to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets" (Press release). European Central Bank. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  7. ^ "Swiss National Bank provides US dollar funding" (PDF) (Press release). Swiss National Bank. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2008-10-25.