Eurozone bank-to-bank lending rates hit new all-time lows on Friday, pulled down by record low ECB interest rates and its move to stop paying banks interest on their overnight deposits. The ECB's overnight deposit rate, which was cut to zero last Thursday, acts as a floor for money market rates as banks only lend to rival banks if they are able to earn a better rate of interest than at the ECB.
The central bank hopes its unprecedented move, which means banks will now get nothing if they park their spare cash there, will nurture a return of more significant interbank lending by forcing banks to look for more profitable options.
Although some money market experts fear the cut could backfire and kill off parts of the market. Three-month Euribor rates, traditionally the main gauge of bank-to-bank lending, hit a new all-time low of 0.486 percent down from 0.497 percent.
Other key rates saw similar drops. Six-month Euribor rates fell to 0.767 percent from 0.779 percent. Shorter-term one week rates decreased to 0.127 percent from 0.134 percent, taking them below overnight rates, which dipped to 0.128 percent, down from 0.131 percent. Euribor rates, like counterpart Libor bank-to-bank rates, are currently at the centre of a manipulation scandal after it emerged a number of banks were falsely submitting the rates they pay to the committee that aggregates the data.
Dollar-priced three-month bank-to-bank Euribor lending rates fixed lower at 0.949 percent, while overnight rates fixed at 0.336. Euribor rates are currently well above the euro-priced Libor rates, one reason being that Euribor figures include prices from more of Europe's struggling banks than Libor.
Comments
Comments are closed.