Collateral
Liquidity-providing operations of the Eurosystem monetary policy must be based on adequate collateral.
The Eurosystem accepts two types of assets: marketable assets and non-marketable assets. As a rule, no distinction is made between the two asset classes with regard to the quality of the assets and their eligibility for the various types of operations.
The eligibility criteria and the rules for the use of collateral are defined in ECB Guidelines and in Instructions of the Banco de Portugal No 3/2015 and 7/2012 (see Related pages). The criteria used to assess the eligibility of assets take into account the type of asset, the place of issue, the currency of denomination, the type and place of establishment of the issuer, debtor and guarantor and the credit quality of the asset, issuer, debtor and guarantor.
The assets eligible for monetary policy liquidity-providing operations may also be used to guarantee intraday credit.
Eurosystem counterparties may use eligible assets on a cross-border basis, i.e. they may resort to credit operations with the central bank of the Member State in which they are established by making use of assets that can be settled in any securities settlement system considered eligible by the Eurosystem for that purpose (for further details, see related ECB webpages).
Unsecured debt instruments and structured debt instruments complying with certain eligibility criteria, established in the Instructions of the Banco de Portugal (see Related pages), are accepted as collateral for Eurosystem credit operations.
Eligibility criteria for marketable assets (non-exhaustive list)
Eligibility criteria | Marketable assets |
Type of asset | ECB debt certificates |
Credit quality standards | The asset is required to meet credit quality requirements in accordance with the Eurosystem credit assessment framework rules |
Place of issue | European Economic Area (EEA) |
Settlement and handling procedures | Place of settlement: Euro area Instruments must be transferable in book-entry form and held or settled through an account with a national central bank or with a securities settlement system considered eligible by the Eurosystem |
Type of issuer/guarantor | Central banks, public sector entities, private sector entities, multilateral development banks and international organisations |
Place of establishment of the issuer/guarantor | Issuer: EEA or non-EEA G10 countries |
Acceptable markets | Regulated markets |
Currency of denomination* | Euro |
Cross-border use | Yes |
*Or as established in the temporary collateral framework (Instruction of the Banco de Portugal No 7/2012).
The list of eligible marketable assets is published on the ECB website (see Related pages) and is updated on a daily basis. This list does not include assets that comply with all eligibility criteria with the exception of credit ratings provided by external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs) accepted within the Eurosystem, which may also be eligible based on a different credit assessment source.
Each national central bank is responsible for assessing the eligibility of securities admitted to trading on regulated and non-regulated markets in their respective country. The process of assessing the eligibility only starts when the asset is issued and all the documentation needed is made available to the respective central bank. The Eurosystem does not assess an asset’s eligibility before its issuance.
The Eurosystem accepts as collateral credit claims whose debtors are non-financial corporations and public sector entities, namely bank loans that have a reducing balance, drawn credit lines, syndicated loan shares and credit claims from leasing or factoring, provided certain eligibility criteria established in the Instructions of the Banco de Portugal (see Related pages) are fulfilled.
Eligibility criteria for non-marketable assets (non-exhaustive list)
Eligibility criteria | Non-marketable assets |
Type of asset | Credit claims |
Credit quality requirements | The debtor and the guarantor are required to meet the Eurosystem's credit quality requirements specified in the Eurosystem credit assessment framework rules. |
Handling procedures | Must be handled in accordance with the Eurosystem procedures. |
Type of issuer/guarantor | - Public sector entities - Non-financial corporations - Multilateral development banks and international organisations |
Place of establishment of the issuer/guarantor | Euro area |
Currency of denomination | Euro |
Minimum size of credit claims | Minimum value at the time of submission as collateral: - €20,000 (domestic use) - €500,000 (cross-border use) |
Legislation governing credit claims | The credit claim agreement must be governed by the law of a Member State whose currency is the euro.
There must be no more than two governing laws in total that apply to the: (i) counterparty; (ii) creditor; (iii) debtor; (iv) guarantor (if relevant); (v) credit claim agreement; (vi) the agreement between the Banco de Portugal and the counterparty mobilising the credit claim as collateral |
Cross-border use | Yes |
In addition, the Banco de Portugal temporarily accepts as collateral additional credit claims, used on an individual or aggregate basis (portfolios of residential mortgages, consumer loans and corporate loans) and additional short-term debt instruments (unlisted commercial paper) that comply with specific eligibility criteria established in Instruction No 7/2012.
There is no public list of eligible non-marketable assets, as their eligibility is assessed only when the Banco de Portugal receives a request from counterparties to use them as collateral.
In order to protect the Eurosystem against financial losses arising from the realisation of assets mobilised as collateral due to the potential default of a counterparty, eligible assets are required to meet high credit quality standards and are subject to risk control measures.
In the assessment of the credit quality requirements for eligible assets, the Eurosystem takes into account credit assessment information from credit assessment systems belonging to one of three sources:
- External credit assessment institutions (ECAIs);
- National central banks' in-house credit assessment systems (ICASs);
- counterparties' internal rating-based (IRB) systems.
A list of the ECAIs and ICASs accepted by the Eurosystem is published on the ECB's website. The ICAS of the Banco de Portugal has been available to monetary policy counterparties since 2016, providing broader access to Eurosystem financing.
A counterparty wishing to use an IRB system to assess the credit quality of debtors, issuers or guarantors of eligible assets must obtain prior authorisation from the relevant supervisory authority.
Credit institutions must report to the European DataWarehouse information on the credit claims comprising the pool of assets underlying the asset-backed securities, as well as on the credit claims underlying the additional credit claims portfolios used as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations.
For further information on reporting related to asset-backed securities, see the related ECB webpage.
Reporting requirements relating to portfolios of additional credit claims are set out in Instruction of the Banco de Portugal No 7/2012. Reporting must be in accordance with the templates provided on this webpage.
For additional enquiries, please send an e-mail to:
Banco de Portugal – Issues related to assets eligibility and scores:
collateral.management.helpdesk@bportugal.pt
collateral.risk.issues@bportugal.pt
European Central Bank – Issues related to templates (questions on contents of the fields):
Eligible-Assets.hotline@ecb.europa.eu
European DataWarehouse – Issues related to the reporting format (questions on xml files):
Queries related to eligible assets may be sent to the following e-mail addresses at the Banco de Portugal:
collateral.management.helpdesk@bportugal.pt (questions on collateral eligibility); or
monetary.policy.operations@bportugal.pt (procedures related to collateral management, namely mobilisation and demobilisation)
