Exceptional Measures Adopted by the Central Bank of Chile

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  • Medidas Excepcionales 2022

  • Medidas Excepcionales 2019-2020

El Consejo del Banco Central de Chile, con el objeto de facilitar el ajuste de la economía chilena a las inciertas y cambiantes condiciones internas y externas, decidió implementar un programa de intervención cambiaria y provisión preventiva de liquidez en dólares, por un monto de hasta US$ 25.000 millones a partir del próximo lunes 18 de julio y hasta el 30 de septiembre de 2022. En particular, la intervención en el mercado cambiario considera:         

1. Venta de dólares spot por un monto de hasta US$10.000 millones.
2. Venta de instrumentos de cobertura cambiaria por un monto de hasta US$ 10.000 millones.

Asimismo, el Consejo consideró apropiado ofrecer de forma preventiva, un programa swap de divisas por un monto de hasta US$ 5.000 millones. Este será complementado por un programa de liquidez en pesos a través de operaciones REPO por ventanilla a los mismos plazos



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The Board of the Central Bank of Chile, in exercising its role, has adopted a series of different measures specially designed to address the impact of the internal and external shocks to the economy, including the impact of the national events of October 2019 and the international health emergency which began in March 2020.

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Since November 2019, the Central Bank of Chile (CBC) has implemented a preemptive program which has the objective of facilitating liquidity within the local financial system both in domestic and foreign currency. Concurrently, the CBC implemented an FX intervention program to diminish excess volatility of the exchange rate. Additionally during this period, the CBC has carried out measures which have the objective of increasing the effectiveness operations announced in domestic and foreign currency, and to facilitate the liquidity management of the local financial system.

  • On November 13, 2019, the CBC announced a REPO and FX Swap program to increase the liquidity of the local markets in domestic and foreign currency.
     

  • On November 14, 2019, the Central Bank allowed the use of bank bonds as collaterals in all liquidity operations denominated in Chilean pesos.
     

  • On that same day, a debt buyback program was implemented to increase the liquidity of  non-banking agents, such as mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds, as well as the liquidity of the banks. The CBC also temporally suspended the issuance of short-term securities (PDBC), as a strategy to support the liquidity of the financial system.
     

  • From November 28, 2019 to May 29, 2020, the CBC implemented an FX intervention program aimed to sell USD for up to US$ 20 billion; according to the following scheme:

    - Sale of USD on the spot market for maximum total of US$10 billion, of which US$ 2.5 billion have been sold.

    - Sale of USD on the forward market for hedging purposes for up to US$10 billion
     

  • On January 3, 2020, the CBC announced that it would roll-over only the outstanding FX forward stock, which rose to US$ 4.5 billion
     

  • From March 16, 2020, and initially until January 9, 2021, the CBC extended the REPO and FX Swap programs due to worsening financial conditions in international markets. This resulted in the following:

    - The inclusion of new maturities in REPO operations: 7 and 180 day maturities were added to the existing 30 and 90 day maturities.

    - The inclusion of new maturities in FX Swap operations: 90 and 180 day maturities were added to the existing 30 day maturities.

    - In both cases, the operations with 180 day maturities were available until the first week of July, 2020.
     

  • On March 18, 2020, a temporary change to the reserve requirement regulations for Banks and other credit supplying companies was introduced, extending from March 9, 2020 until September 8, 2020. This has allowed these institutions to complete their reserves with foreign currency deposits, USD, euros and Japanese yen, and local currency.
     

  • Additionally, the amount of dollars offered daily by the FX Swap program was increased to US$ 400 million in the 30 day bucket, for the 19th and 20th of March, 2020.


NDF

 


REPO

 




FX SWAP



Cental Bank Debt Stock

 

Tradable Monetary Liabilities

 



Debt Buyback Program

 

Program CC VP

 

Program DP

 

 

 

 

Press Releases

 



The CBC expanded monetary stimulus by cutting the monetary policy rate (MPR) to its technical minimum, and by adopting a set of extraordinary measures:

  • On March 20, 2020, the CBC cut the MPR by 75 bps, reducing the rate to 1%, and implemented the following measures:

    - Opening the Conditional Financing Facility for Increased Loans (FCIC) and activating of the Liquidity Credit Line (LCL) for commercial banks. This credit line is conditional to increased lending to consumers and businesses (particularly small and medium sized businesses).

    - The inclusion of corporate bonds as eligible collateral for liquidity operations conducted by the CBC.

    - Implementation of a bank bonds purchase program for all participants of the SOMA system (banks and others financial institutions), for an equivalent of US$ 4  billion and with a remaining maturity up to 5 years

    - Extension to January 9, 2021 of the FX intervention program implemented during November 2019.
     

  • On March 31, 2020, the CBC cut the MPR by 50 bps, reducing it to its historical minimum of 0,5%
     

  • On the same date, the CBC increased the banks bonds purchase program by an additional US$ 4 billion, reaching US$ 8 billion, and lifted the maturity restriction. With this change, the remaining amount in the program was US$5.5 billion (US$3.5 billion had already been purchased).

 

 

 

Press Releases



FCIC 

En marzo de 2020 y como respuesta a las tensiones financieras asociadas a la pandemia del Covid-19, el Banco Central de Chile (BCCh) implementó la Facilidad de Financiamiento Condicional al Incremento de Colocaciones para empresas bancarias (FCIC) con Garantía Prendaria, herramienta que otorgaba recursos e incentivos a la banca para mantener el financiamiento a empresas y hogares.

Mayores detalles respecto de esta facilidad y sus distintas etapas se pueden encontrar en el siguiente enlace: Portal Cartera Prendada FCIC 

 

 

Notas:

1- Las garantías de la FCIC en los gráficos 2, 3 y 4 se muestran según su valor de mercado diario, dependiendo si son instrumentos financieros con mercado secundario o colocaciones comerciales, donde estas últimas se valorizan conforme a lo indicado en las condiciones financieras de la FCIC.

2- Las colocaciones comerciales que se muestran en los gráficos 2, 3 y 4 corresponden a todas aquellas que se encuentran prendadas a favor de este Banco Central, considerándose sólo el 90% de ellas, conforme a lo establecido en las condiciones financieras de la FCIC.

3- En el gráfico 3, “Otros instrumentos” incluye aquellos con clasificación de riesgo BBB, BBB-, N-1+ y N-1.

 



  • The CBC has maintained the normal flows of cash in the economy. This considers the withdrawal of low quality banknotes and keeping the supply of new bank notes to commercial banks.
     

  • Cash flow has been achieved while following all the recommendations of the World Health Organization in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among people that handle cash.
     

  • The CBC recommends that local stores continue to accept cash to guarantee that the public has a choice of payment methods for their purchases, particularly given the social restrictions imposed on the country due the sanitary crisis.



Glossary – Measures of Central Bank of Chile

 

  • CBC Repo: Financing operation in domestic currency, where the Central Bank of Chile (CBC) buys or pledges to the banks, on a determined date, a set of financial assets in exchange for an amount in Chilean pesos, charging an interest rate that is generally the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR). When the operation ends, the bank returns the funds and the CBC returns the financial assets in exchange.
     

  • CBC Fx Swap: Financing operation in US dollars, granted by the CBC to the banks, where the latter pays back at maturity, and for which the CBC charges an interest rate. Since the beginning of the program, the CBC has auctioned these operations at a minimum rate of Libor + 200 basis points. For these operations, the CBC asks for a guarantee that is an equivalent in Chilean pesos and in return, the CBC pays the MPR. This operation temporarily reduces the International Reserves by the size of the loan amount, although it does not change the net position in foreign currency of the CBC.
     

  • PDBC: short-term debt securities issued by the CBC, with issuance terms between 7 and 360 days, which are purchased by banks, pension funds, open funds, insurance companies, and other agents.
     

  • CBC Spot foreign currency operation: Spot sale or purchase of foreign currency carries out by the CBC, for which it receives or delivers the equivalent amount in Chilean pesos. Banks, stockbrokers, and securities dealers participate in the auctions. This operation modifies the International Reserves and therefore the net position in foreign currency of the CBC.

 

  • CBC Foreign currency forward operation: Foreign currency forward sale or purchase carried out by the CBC, through which it commits to selling or buying foreign currency to banks in the future. If the operation involves a physical transaction, at maturity the CBC receives or delivers foreign currency in exchange for the equivalent amount in Chilean pesos. In the case of a Non-Delivery Forward (NDF), at maturity, the net amounts are calculated and the debtor pays the creditor the difference in Chilean pesos. This operation only modifies the International Reserves in the case of physical delivery, and not in the case of NDF; however, in both cases it alters the net position in foreign currency of the CBC. The operations carried out between 2019 and 2020 have been in the NDF modality.
     

  • CBC Conditional Financing Facility for Increased Loans (FCIC): It is an extraordinary financing facility for banks. This tool has been designed to be an incentive to financing households and companies, in particular those that do not have access to the financial market. It operates when the CBC buys or pledges to the banks, on a given date, a set of financial assets in exchange for the equivalent amount in Chilean pesos, charging the minimum among the MPR values during the period March - September 2020.
     

  • CBC Liquidity Credit Line (LCL): It is a liquidity credit facility activated by the CBC, whose limit corresponds to the Average Reserve Requirement in domestic currency of each bank. The access and use of the LCL is subject to the same conditions established for the FCIC, with the difference that its limit is the Reserve Requirement of each bank. The LCL has a 6-month availability period and a maturity of up to 2 years. The CBC supplies an amount in Chilean pesos up to the reserve requirement limit, charging the minimum among the MPR values during the period March - September 2020.
     

  • Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR): It measures the liquidity risk profile of a bank; ensuring that it has an adequate amount of high quality and charge-free assets that can be easily and immediately converted into cash.