U.S. Dollar Liquidity-Providing Operations from July 1, 2020

The Swiss National Bank has joined other major central banks in reducing the frequency of its dollar swap operations from July 1, 2020.

Due to the improvements in U.S. dollar funding conditions and the low demand at recent 7-day maturity U.S. dollar liquidity-providing transactions, several major banks - the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank - in consultation with the Federal Reserve, have jointly concluded to reduce the frequency of their 7-day operations from daily to three times per week. This change will come into force from July 1 2020. At the same time, the mentioned banks will continue to hold weekly operations with an 84-day maturity.

These central banks are to re-adjust the provision of U.S dollar liquidity as warranted by market conditions. The swap lines among the mentioned major banks are available standing facilities and serve as a significant liquidity backstop to relieve strains in global funding markets. The aim is to help to mitigate the effects of strains on the supply of credit to households as well as businesses, domestically and abroad.