Fed, Five Central Banks Move To Cut Dollar Borrowing Costs

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The U.S. Federal Reserve, acting with five other central banks, moved Wednesday to ease Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis by making it easier for banks to trade in U.S. dollars.

The Fed, along with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Swiss National Bank agreed to lower the pricing on the existing temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangements by 50 basis points so that the new rate will be the U.S. dollar overnight index swap (OIS) rate plus 50 basis points.

This pricing will be applied to all operations conducted from December 5, 2011. The authorization of these swap arrangements has been extended to February 1, 2013. In addition, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank will continue to offer three-month tenders until further notice.

The cost for European banks to fund in dollars rose to the highest levels in three years today as concerns about a possible breakup of the euro area increased after leaders said they’d failed to boost the region’s bailout fund as much as planned.

The six central banks also agreed to create temporary bilateral swap programs so funding can be provided in any of the currencies “should market conditions so warrant.” Those swap lines were also authorized through February, 2013.

KUNA

KUNA is the Kuwait News Agency

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