The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 5 billion yuan in central bank bill swap (CBS) operations on 24 December, with a tenor of three months and a coupon rate of 2.35%.
PBOC said that this was its 12th CBS operation, and for the purpose of “raising the market liquidity of bank perpetual bonds, and supporting the issuance of perpetual debt by commercial lenders to supplement their capital levels.”
The CBS operation was conducted via fixed fee rate bidding on the open market with primary dealers, and the fee rate was set at 0.10%.
PBOC first approved the issuance of perpetual bonds by Chinese banks at the start of 2019, in order to give lenders an additional channel for capital supplementation purposes.
PBOC simultaneously announced the launch of central bank bill swaps with the goal of bolstering the liquidity of perpetual bonds, as well as the acceptance of bank perpetual bonds with ratings of no lower than “AA” as qualified collateral for medium term lending facilities (MLF), targeted medium term lending facilities (TMLF) and standard lending facilities (SLF).
Related stories
Perpetual Bond Issuance Expected to Accelerate as PBOC Continues Central Bank Bill Swaps
PBOC’s Pan Gongsheng Denies Central Bank Bill Swaps Comprise Quantitative Easing
PBOC to Provide Central Bank Bill Swaps to Shore up Perpetual Bond Liquidity