How to monitor the exit from the Eurosystem’s unconventional monetary policy: Is EONIA dead and gone?

This paper investigates the impact of the “unconventional” monetary policy measures taken by the Eurosystem on both the unsecured and the secured money markets. Furthermore, we provide insight into the shifts between the unsecured and secured markets. We provide a euro area overview and a Core-versus-Periphery breakdown. Our results show that: 1) there is a clear segmentation between Core and Periphery; 2) the use of the unsecured money market has decreased substantially and is no longer representative as a reflection of the euro area as a whole; and 3) the use of the secured money markets has increased substantially in value terms since the start of the crisis. Both the secured and the unsecured money markets reacted strongly to the first 3-year long term refinancing operations and quantitative easing. It is not to be expected that turnover in the money markets will revert to pre-crisis levels, in part because new regulation, such as the Basel III requirements, dissuades banks from engaging in short-term lending. Therefore, monetary policy experts should also devote their attention to steering the rates in the secured money market.
 
Keywords: monetary policy, repo, GC Pooling, MTS Repo, unsecured money market, central bank, Basel III.
JEL classifications: E42, E44, E58, G01.

Working paper no. 504.