The purpose of the Operational Standing Facilities is to stabilise expectations that overnight market interest rates will be in line with Bank Rate and, to that end, to give banks a means to manage unexpected 'frictional' payments shocks that could otherwise take their reserves accounts either below zero or to a level where they would otherwise be unremunerated. The Bank seeks to satisfy itself that use of the facility is consistent with these purposes. The rates currently paid/charged on the facilities are shown below:

Operational Standing Lending Facility	0.75%
Operational Standing Deposit Facility	0%

 

The operational standing deposit facility is uncollateralised. The operational standing lending facility is for overnight reverse repo against Eligible Collateral.

The operational standing facilities are available all day subject to operational constraints arising from deadlines in payments and securities settlement systems.

Market Notices

The main SMF Documentation sets out how these operations work. Its provisions may be amended by the Bank from time to time by Market Notices.

• Consolidated Market Notice: Sterling Monetary Framework; Asset Purchases (15k)
  8 January 2010
• Consolidated Market Notice: Changes to the Eligibility Criteria for Access to Reserves Accounts and Other Sterling Monetary Framework Facilities (18k)
  13 November 2009

Click here to see superseded Market Notices, show

Information for participants

• Documentation
• Market Notices
• Eligible Collateral
• Eligibility to participate
• Applications to participate