RBA Sets 0.15% Fee for Liquidity Standby; Lifts Repo Margins
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The Reserve Bank of Australia set an annual fee of 15 basis points for financial firms to access standby funds as the nation moves to adopt global liquidity rules aimed at averting a repeat of the credit crisis.
The facilities are needed as the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reiterated today in a statement that only federal and state government securities can count as liquid assets under the so-called Basel III rules coming into force in 2015, while bonds from supranational issuers won’t qualify. The RBA also said it will widen from Feb. 1, 2012, the margin applied under repurchase agreements to long-term assets issued by entities other than Australia’s governments.