Asset purchase programmes
The ECB’s asset purchase programme (APP) was launched in mid-2014 to support monetary policy transmission. Large-scale asset purchases exert downward pressure on long-term interest rates even when short-term rates have reached their effective lower bound.
The APP includes specific programmes for public sector securities (PSPP), corporate bonds (CSPP), covered bonds (CBPP3) and asset-backed securities (ABSPP). In July 2023, all reinvestments under the APP were discontinued.
In response to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the APP was supplemented in March 2020 by a temporary asset purchase programme covering private and public sector securities, called the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP). The initial envelope for this programme was €750 billion. However, over the course of 2020, it was increased in two stages to €1 850 billion. Since the second half of 2024, reinvestments of maturing PEPP securities have been reduced by an average of €7.5 billion per month. From the beginning of 2025, reinvestments under the PEPP were terminated.
Securities lending under the APP and the PEPP
To support market liquidity, assets purchased under the PSPP and the CSPP have been made available for securities lending in a decentralised manner. This also applies to assets purchased under the PEPP, at the same conditions as the APP.
For more information on the Eurosystem’s general framework for securities lending, please see:
Securities lending under the PSPP and the PEPP (public sector)
The NBB lends public sector securities purchased under the PSPP and the PEPP (see the list of available International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) below) against both cash and securities, to counterparties that have entered into euro repurchase agreements with it.
More information can be found in the following documents:
Securities lending under the CSPP and the PEPP (corporate sector)
The NBB lends corporate bonds purchased under the CSPP and the PEPP against securities (via combined repo/reverse repo operations) exclusively to counterparties that have entered into euro repurchase agreements with it. In addition to these bilateral loans, the NBB takes part in the Automatic Securities Lending and Borrowing Programme of Euroclear Bank SA/NV.