ECB decides to no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral

he Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to lift the waiver affecting marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic. The waiver allowed these instruments to be used in Eurosystem monetary policy operations despite the fact that they did not fulfil minimum credit rating requirements. The Governing Council decision is based on the fact that it is currently not possible to assume a successful conclusion of the programme review and is in line with existing Eurosystem rules.

This decision does not bear consequences for the counterparty status of Greek financial institutions in monetary policy operations. Liquidity needs of Eurosystem counterparties, for counterparties that do not have sufficient alternative collateral, can be satisfied by the relevant national central bank, by means of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) within the existing Eurosystem rules reports the ECB

Analysts said the ECB statement was a sign the meeting had not been a success. “This is clearly the ECB signalling to the Greek government: You’re going to have to talk to [international lenders] the troika and get a deal,” Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics told the Associated Press. “Otherwise, really bad things are going to happen” reports BBC.