Annex A. OECD 2020 Survey on Primary Markets Developments
This annex belongs to the OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2021.
Thirty-six of the 37 OECD countries responded to this survey.
Countries which responded to the survey but did not provide comments to a question may not appear in the table of answers.
Source: 2020 Survey on Primary Markets Developments by the OECD Working Party on Debt Management.
Table A.1. Overview of issuing procedures | |||||||
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Auctions | Auction type | Tap issues | Syndication | ||||
| Long-term | Short-term | Single-price | Multiple-price | Long-term | Short-term | |
Australia | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Austria | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Belgium | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Canada | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Colombia | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Czech Republic | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Denmark | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Estonia | X | X | X | ||||
Finland | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
France | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Germany | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Greece | X | X | X | X | |||
Hungary | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Iceland | X | X | X | X | |||
Ireland | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Israel | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Italy | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Japan | X | X | X | X | |||
Korea | X | X | X | ||||
Latvia | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Lithuania | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Luxembourg | X | ||||||
Mexico | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Netherlands | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
New Zealand | X | X | X | X | |||
Norway | X | X | X | X | |||
Poland | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Portugal | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Slovak Republic | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Slovenia | X | X | X | X | |||
Spain | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Sweden | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Switzerland | X | X | X | X | |||
Turkey | X | X | X | ||||
United Kingdom | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
United States | X | X | X | ||||
Total | 32 | 34 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 19 | 26 |
Table A.2. Q1 Overview of issuing procedures – country notes | |
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| Country notes |
Austria | In general, syndications are used for new government bond issues only. Existing bonds are regularly tapped via scheduled auctions. Over the past years, Austria has successfully conducted parallel auctions (tap of two bonds at one auction) and dual-tranche syndications (syndicated issuance of two bonds at the same time). Austrian Treasury Bills (ATB) are sold on a bi-lateral basis via ATB-Dealers. |
Canada | Canada issues the majority of its domestic debt through multiple-price auction format. All nominal bonds and treasury bill auctions are multiple-price, whereas real return bonds (inflation-indexed bonds) and the ultra-long bonds are issued through a single-price auction format. In 2014, Canada initially issued its 50-year bond through a syndication format. As of August 2017, Canada now issues its ultra-long bond through a modified single-price auction format. Canada issues foreign currency global bonds through syndication, Medium Term Notes (MTNs) /Euro Medium Term Notes (EMTNs) on a reverse inquiry basis, and operates a Commercial Paper program in United States dollars (USD). |
Colombia | Our local bonds are issue through auctions and our external debt through a book building process with a syndication of banks. We also have loans with development banks and multilateral organizations as part of our funding sources. |
Czech Republic | Primary market (auction type) T-bonds: multi-price auction T-bills: single-price auction Secondary market operations (auction type) Tap-issues: single –price auction Switch auction: single-price auction |
Denmark | All domestic papers are sold at auctions. We launched a foreign loan via syndication for the first time since 2014 in October 2020. |
Estonia | Estonia has no regular issuance calendar. |
France | Syndication mainly used for curve extension or new products. |
Hungary | After bond auctions there can be a non-competitive top-up tender, which is a single-price (average auction price) issuance. Some types of T-bills and bonds are sold via tap issuance or via subscriptions for retail investors. Syndication is used only for the issuance of foreign exchange bonds in the international markets. |
Iceland | Single price format used for T-bills and T-bonds. Syndication is used for foreign debt borrowing |
Israel | The majority of the issuing is by Tap. |
Italy | The Italian Treasury makes use of two kinds of auction: - a competitive (multi-price) auction on a yield basis, for T-bills; - a marginal price (single-price) auction - where the auction price and the quantity issued are determined discretionally by the Treasury within a preannounced interval of amounts in issuance - for all medium-long terms bonds (zero-coupon, nominal fixed and floating rate, and inflation indexed bonds). The Treasury normally makes use of syndication: - in case of issuance of new types of bonds (for instance, Buono del Tesoro Poliennale (BTP)€i in 2003 and Certificati di Credito del Tesoro (CCT)eu in 2010) or benchmarks in new segments of the nominal and European inflation curves (e.g.: 7-year BTP, 5-year BTP€i with a new coupon cycle); - in case of issuance of new nominal bonds with maturities above 10 years and new inflation linkers with maturities of 10 years or more. As for the BTP Italia (linked to the Italian inflation) and starting from 2020 also for the BTP Futura (dedicated to retail investors), the Treasury makes use of a specific method of issuance, which allows for collecting purchase orders through the retail screen-based market for government bonds, the Mercato Telematico delle Obbligazioni (MOT) platform of Borsa Italiana. A minimum coupon rate (for BTP Futura a set of annual minimum coupon rates) is announced the day before the starting of the issuance process, while the final coupon rate (for BTP Futura a set of annual coupon rates) is determined at the end of the placement period based on market conditions, whereas the issue price is fixed at par. For the BTP Italia the placement period is divided into a First Phase and a Second Phase. The First Phase is reserved to retail investors, while during the Second Phase Institutional investors only (including banks and others ) are allowed to participate. For the BTP Futura only retail investors are allowed to buy the bond during the placement period. Starting from April 2020 and consistently with what announced in the Update of the Guidelines for Public Debt Management for 2020, the Italian Treasury has introduced a new modality to issue one or more off-the-run securities through the electronic trading system (“TAP ISSUE”). These Tap reopening operations of off-the-run bonds are reserved to Specialists in Government Bonds. Moreover, the opportunity and type of bond to be issued are evaluated according to specific demand requirements. |
Japan | Price-competitive & multiple-price auction methods are used in Japan, except for the auctions for: •40-year bonds (yield-competitive & single-price auction), •Inflation-indexed bonds (price-competitive & single-price auctions) and •Liquidity Enhancement Auctions (yield-spread-competitive & multiple-price auctions). Also, reopening is conducted for Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) except for T-Bills and 2-year bonds. |
Latvia | The Republic of Latvia issues government debt securities in international markets via syndication method and government debt securities in domestic market via auction method. Starting from October 14, 2020, the Republic of Latvia offers TAPs of outstanding GMTN Notes (i.e. Eurobonds) in the domestic market auctions via primary dealers only. |
Lithuania | The Government borrows by issuing both short– and long–term securities in the auctions and later tapping them. However, since 2015, due to market conditions (low interest rates) short-term securities were issued just once in April 2020. |
Mexico | The Federal Government securities auction program considers the issuance and placement of the following: Treasury bills (Cetes) with maturities of 28, 91, 182 and 364-day.Floating-rate bonds (Bondes D) with maturity of 5 years (The fourth quarter included 1 and 3-year Bondes D).Fixed-rate bonds (M Bonos) with maturities of 3, 5, 10, 20 and 30 years. Inflation-linked bonds for 3, 10 and 30 year terms. There are weekly auctions with different combinations of instruments issuance, with the exception of Cetes 28, 91, 182 and 364 which are auctioned every week. Currently, only Bondes D auctions are conducted using the multiple-price auction method. Syndicated auctions are used to introduce new benchmarks of fixed-rate and inflation-linked bonds. It is a regular practice to reopen existing securities in order to foster liquidity in the secondary market. |
New Zealand | We also undertake tap syndications of existing nominal bond lines. |
Norway | New bonds are introduced by syndication , while Treasury bills are issued through uniform price auctions. Both bills and bonds are regularly reopened by auctions. Auctions are conducted via the Bloomberg Auction System. Only primary dealers are authorised to participate in the auctions. They are obliged to participate in every auction of bills and bonds. The issue amount and tenor are published two days prior to the auction. We always allot the preannounced amount. In reopening auctions the amount is normally Norwegian Krone (NOK) 2-3 billion. When issuing a new bill or bond a stock of NOK 6 billion is retained on the Government’s account for securities lending by the Debt Management Office (DMO) to the Primary Dealers (PDs). |
Poland | Single price auction is used in T-bill and T-bond regular sale auctions as well as T-bond switching auctions. Multiple price model is used in buy-back auctions. There is a possibility of placing non-competitive bids on T-bond and T-bill sale and T-bond switching auctions. There is a possibility of T-bonds' cash purchase after switching auction. |
Portugal | Syndications: T-Bonds only. Auction type: T-Bonds: Single Price, T-Bills: Multiple Price, *Tap issues correspond to reopening the series via auctions for both T-Bonds and T-Bills. T-Bonds can also be tapped via syndication or other formats as exchange offers. |
Slovak Republic | Single price only for Tbills all other auctions with multiple price. |
Slovenia | Single price auctions are used for short term securities (T-bills). 18 months T-bills have been issued within T-bills program since 2013. Due to strategic considerations no auctions of government bonds have been executed since beginning of 2007. Syndication remains the exclusive issuance method for the government bonds. However, the auctions system and auction rules for the government bond auctions are in place. |
Spain | We issue benchmark bonds through syndication processes and then proceed to provide liquidity with taps of both Off The Run and Benchmarks through auctions, for long-term and short-term tenors. |
Switzerland | Between auction dates, the Federal Treasury sells so called “own tranches” from time to time to support market liquidity and cover extraordinary market demand. Own tranches are issued bonds which are not sold at the initial auction. They are still owned by the Confederation and can be sold on demand (the whole issuance process is completed except the sale to the investor). Every time we auction a bond, we reserve own tranches of up to 300 million Swiss Franc (CHF) of the issued bond (in addition to auctioned volume) if required. We consider the selling of own tranches as tap issues. Over the course of the year we have sold own tranches with a nominal value of d 0.8 billion CHF (roughly 18 per cent of total bond issuance) to bolster market liquidity. In the previous couple of years we did not sell any own tranches due to lacking demand and limited financial needs. In contrast, the reopening of already issued bonds (implemented by auction) is procedurally and legally comparable with auctioning of new bonds. To support market liquidity, we aim to have only one outstanding bond per year but with a volume of around 4 billion CHF when due. Because of our limited financial needs and market demand, we are not able to auction the entire volume at once. Hence, we have to spread it across time and reopen existing bonds several times over their entire lifetime. |
Turkey | Domestic debt securities are issued mainly through auction (multiple-price auction system. On the other hand, sukuk (lease certificate) issuances in the domestic market are held by direct sale method. |
United Kingdom | Auctions remain the primary issuance method along the maturity curve and currently [29 October] account for 88% of gilt sales in 2020-21 (which total £363.4 billion). Conventional gilts and Treasury bills are issued via multiple price auctions while inflation-linked gilts are issued using a single-price format. A programme of syndications was introduced in 2009-10 to supplement the auctions and has been used in each financial year since then. Five syndications have been held in 2020-21 to-date, raising £41.6 billion (11% of total sales). The United Kingdom (UK) has not for some time described any of its primary issuance methods as “Taps”; however, it does regularly re-open existing gilts (in operations frequently known as taps) as part of its ongoing auction schedule and, also, the UK occasionally issues additional tranches of bonds fungible with an existing issue via ad hoc gilt tenders. Gilt tenders are not generally a significant contributor to the gilt sales programme (in 2020-21 to-date proceeds from the single tender held account for only 1% of total gilt sales). The term “gilt tender” was introduced from April 2016 for both outright sales and sales for market management purposes in exceptional circumstances (the latter category of issuance was formerly called “Taps”). Gilt tenders are typically single price operations and usually amount to around half the (cash) size of a scheduled auction of a comparable bond. Gilt tenders can be added to the operations calendar at short notice (at least two business days in advance); they are designed to meet emerging patterns of demand for a particular maturity or type of gilt in-year. |
United States | Treasury’s Office of Debt Management offers scheduled reopenings of its 10-, 20-, and 30-year nominal benchmarks; its 5-, 10-, and 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) offerings; its benchmark floating rate notes; and its suite of Treasury bill offerings. |
Table A.3. Q1b Overview of recent changes in issuing procedures and techniques | |
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Australia | The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) has increased usage of syndications to achieve the required funding rate in 2020 |
Austria | Starting from July 2020 onwards, volume and tenors are now announced on Thursdays in the week before the Republic of Austria Government Bonds (RAGB) auction date (previously Tuesdays). Furthermore, the use of bi-lateral syndicated taps of RAGBs has increased in 2020. |
Belgium | We re-installed an ‘Optional Reverse Inquiry’, a facility in which dealers can ask for taps -in limited amounts- of specific bonds that they feel are harder to find in the market. These auctions remain out of scope for evaluation purposes. |
Canada | Canada’s current debt distribution framework has been in place since the late 1990s. There have been no notable changes to the issuing procedures. The MTN program was re-introduced in 2012. The EMTN program was re-introduced in 2013.In 2014, Canada initially issued its 50-year bond through a syndication format. As of August 2017, Canada now issues its ultra-long bond through a modified single-price auction format. |
Colombia | In 2020, Colombia issued for the first time a 30 year TES (Colombian local bonds) in fixed rate through a book building process with a syndication of banks. |
Czech Republic | Since October 2020, Ministry of Finance started with executing switch auction with T-bills as buy back bonds. Ministry of Finance buys back T-bills and issues long-term government bonds. The main aim is adjusting the redemption profile of state debt in favour of long-term government bonds without impact on the total outstanding amount of state debt. |
Denmark | In October 2020, we issued a foreign loan via syndication under our EMTN programme for the first time since 2014. |
Estonia | In 2020 Estonia re-entered the bond market after 18 years. |
Finland | In spring 2020, euro benchmark bonds were tapped in private placements in addition to public auctions |
France | We did not change our issuance procedure and technique recently even in the wake of the pandemic, but we have slightly adjusted our auction calendar (introduction of an additional auction date in August 2020 where two auctions took place instead of one optional auction). |
Germany | Traditionally, we issue and tap securities for long- and short-term borrowing via multi-price auctions. This year, three syndications were chosen for (1) entering the green bond market, (2) launching a new maturity segment (15-year term), and (3) tapping a large amount in the bond with the longest maturity (€ 6 bn, 30-year term). |
Hungary | There has been no change. |
Iceland | No changes since the last survey. |
Ireland | Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, issuance has increased in 2020. While issuance is generally transacted from the office, we needed to adapt our communication and collaboration with colleagues and market participants working from home. |
Israel | The issuing procedures hasn’t change recently, except for increasing the issue amount in according to our borrowing needs. |
Italy | Considering the new macroeconomic scenario due to the last COVID-19 epidemiological crisis, the Italian Treasury has implemented the following changes in issuing procedures. With reference to the BTP Futura issuances, this retail bond has been offered to investors through the MOT platform of Borsa Italiana. Moreover, the Treasury has increased both the amount offered at auctions and the shares of the supplementary placements reserved to the Specialists. In addition to this, the Italian Treasury has made use of syndicated placement also for the launch of new benchmark securities with maturity ≤10 years. Lastly, the Italian Treasury has introduced a new modality to issue one or more off-the-run securities through the electronic trading system (“TAP ISSUE”). These Tap reopening operations of off-the-run bonds are reserved to Specialists in Government Bonds. Moreover, the opportunity and type of bond to be issued are evaluated according to specific demand requirements. |
Japan | Cap of the amount of a bid of the Non-Price Competitive Auction II (*1) was lowered from 15% to 10% of each participant's total successful bids in the competitive auction and Non-Price Competitive auction I (*2) from an auction in January 2020. (*1) Non-Price Competitive Auction II is an auction carried out after the competitive auction is finished. The price offered is equal to the weighted average accepted price in the price-competitive auction or issuance price in Dutch-style competitive auction. (*2) Non-Price Competitive Auction I is an auction in which biddings are offered at the same time as for the price- competitive auction. The maximum issuance amount is set at 20% of the total planned issuance amount and the price offered is equal to the weighted average accepted price of the price- competitive auction. |
Latvia | Since October 2020, the Republic of Latvia offers TAPs of outstanding GMTN Notes (Eurobonds) in the domestic market auctions via primary dealers only. |
Lithuania | Issuing procedures and techniques haven’t changed recently. |
Luxembourg | None |
Mexico | As part of the Annual Borrowing Plan, the government securities auction calendar is released and published on a quarterly basis. The amounts to be auctioned for all terms of Cetes are announced as a range in order to maintain flexibility. Likewise, for the purpose of ensuring an efficient cash management in the treasury account, issuance amounts are constantly revised and modified according to cash flows and financing needs. During 2020, the Federal Government’s debt strategy has incorporated the following adjustments: Previously, Cetes with maturity of 364 days were auctioned every 4 weeks. Since the third quarter of 2020, 364-day Cetes are being auctioned on a weekly basis. For the fourth quarter of 2020, the securities auction calendar incorporated 1 and 3-year Bondes D. |
Netherlands | No significant changes |
New Zealand | New Zealand Debt Management (NZDM) have made significant changes to the Funding Strategy for 2020/21, reflecting a significantly higher borrowing program. The following developments have occurred: Individual nominal bond line caps were lifted from New Zealand (NZ)$12 billion to NZ$18 billion. Bond tender schedules are now published a month, rather than a quarter, in advance. Weekly tenders now include multiple bonds rather than one bond. Tap syndications of existing bond maturities now complement the use of syndications to issue new bond lines. Begun to issue a small volume of short-dated European Commercial Paper (ECP). Additional communication channels have been created, including the monthly Investor Update and virtual investor meetings. |
Norway | Norges Bank began using the Bloomberg Auction system for government securities auctions on 1 April 2020. Previously, Norges Bank has used the Oslo Stock Exchange auction and trading platform. |
Poland | No changes in the current year. |
Portugal | There were no relevant changes in the issuing procedures and techniques in the last 12 months. During this year, issuing procedures and techniques were standard: both via syndications and auctions. The only element to refer here is the fact the auction size for both Tbonds and Tbills increased marginally and some months two Tbond auction windows were used this year as opposed to past practice, where only one monthly auction window was used. |
Slovenia | A series of smaller sized taps of euro (EUR) denominated government bonds were issued in the period from March to September 2020 as a complementary issue approach to syndicated benchmark offerings to fund additional funding of increased state budget funding for COVID-19 measures. |
Spain | More frequent syndication procedures, larger auction sized, new maturity profiles to meet investor demand and a special emphasis on communication with investors and market-makers. |
Sweden | The Debt Office, starting June 2020, increased the number of maturities of treasury bills to meet the growing borrowing requirement. The change entails an increase in the number of outstanding treasury bills from four to six, of which the longest maturity is up to twelve months. The new policy involves the Debt Office issuing a new 12-month bill maturing on an International Monetary Market (IMM) date every three months (third Wednesday in March, June, September and December). In the other months, a new three-month bill is introduced. The Debt Office also issues treasury bills on a discretionary basis (tap issues) within the framework of liquidity management. This applies to treasury bills with the two shortest maturities and with tailored maturities (liquidity bills). |
Switzerland | No recent changes. |
Turkey | No change. |
United Kingdom | The DMO’s annual financing remit for 2020-21 was published on 11 March 2020, with planned gilt sales of £156.1 billion announced. However, the size of the financing programme quickly needed to be revised owing to the scale of measures announced by Her Majesty (HM) Treasury to support the economy through the period of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also became clear that, because of the level of uncertainty associated with expenditure on COVID-19 and its impact on the economy, it would not be possible to estimate a financing requirement for the whole financial year, consequently, for the first time, the DMO structured its operations to deliver a series of partial extensions to the in-year financing programme. On 31 March the size of the previously planned gilt programme for April was increased to £45 billion and 11 auctions were added to the calendar for that month alone. On 23 April planned gilt sales of £180 billion were announced for May-July, taking planned sales for the first four months of 2020-21 to £225 billion. On 29 June an additional £50 billion of gilt sales were announced for August, taking planned sales for the first five months of 2020-21 to £275 billion; and on 16 July it was announced that planned gilt sales in the financial year to end-November would be a minimum of £385 billion. The issuance programme for April-November includes 118 gilt auctions. This unprecedented increase in the financing requirement required the DMO to make a number of significant changes to the way it manages its gilt sales activities. With effect from the week commencing 6 April 2020, for the first time, the DMO began scheduling two gilt auctions per day on two consecutive days. Two bidding windows were established, from 9.00am to 10.00am for the first auction and from 10.30am to 11.30am for the second. The Post Auction Option Facility (PAOF) windows associated with the two auctions were set at 12.30pm to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 2.30pm respectively; and the rate of the PAOF was increased from 15% to 25% to incentivise bidding. |
United States | N/A |
Table A.4. Q2 Have you issued or plan to issue any new types of securities like inflation-linked bonds, variable rate notes, green bonds, and longer dated securities? | ||||
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YES, new types of securities were/will be issued | NO new types of securities were/will be issued | |||
Last 12 months | Next 12 months | Last 12 months | Next 12 months | |
Australia | X | X | ||
Austria | X | X | ||
Belgium | X | X | ||
Canada | X | X | ||
Colombia | X | X | ||
Czech Republic | X | X | ||
Denmark | X | |||
Estonia | X | |||
Finland | X | X | ||
France | X | X | ||
Germany | X | X | ||
Greece | X | X | ||
Hungary | X | X | ||
Iceland | X | X | ||
Ireland | X | |||
Israel | X | |||
Italy | X | X | ||
Japan | X | X | ||
Korea | X | |||
Latvia | X | X | ||
Lithuania | X | X | ||
Luxembourg | X | X | ||
Mexico | X | |||
Netherlands | X | |||
New Zealand | X | X | ||
Norway | X | X | ||
Poland | X | X | ||
Portugal | X | |||
Slovak Republic | X | X | ||
Slovenia | X | X | ||
Spain | X | X | ||
Sweden | X | X | ||
Switzerland | X | X | ||
Turkey | X | |||
United Kingdom | X | |||
United States | X | |||
Total | 15 | 12 | 20 | 14 |
Table A.7. Q2 Other types of securities | ||
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Others issued in the LAST 12 months | Others issued in the NEXT 12 months | |
Austria | Approved Panda Bond Programme (but actual issuance is subject to market conditions.) | |
Denmark | Issuance in foreign currency USD | |
Germany | new maturities (7- and 15-year) | |
Italy | BTP Futura | BTP Futura |
Latvia | TAPs of outstanding GMTN Notes (Eurobonds) in the domestic market auctions via primary dealers only. | TAPs of outstanding GMTN Notes (Eurobonds) in the domestic market auctions via primary dealers only. |
Luxembourg | (i): Treasury Bills, (ii): Sustainable Bonds | |
New Zealand | ECP | ECP |
Turkey | Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) (Turkish Lira Overnight Reference Rate “TLREF”) bonds | |
United States | 20-year nominal coupon bond |
Table A.8. Q3 Major challenges experienced over the last 9 months | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Changes in government’s funding needs | Cash flow forecasting | Market volatility | Understanding investor behaviour | Operational challenges | Lack of investor demand | Communication with fiscal & monetary authorities | Communication with market participants | Others | |
Australia | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Austria | X | X | X | ||||||
Belgium | X | X | |||||||
Canada | X | X | X | X | |||||
Colombia | X | X | X | ||||||
Czech Republic | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Denmark | X | X | X | ||||||
Estonia | X | X | |||||||
Finland | X | X | X | ||||||
France | X | X | X | X | |||||
Germany | X | X | X | ||||||
Greece | X | X | X | X | |||||
Hungary | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Iceland | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Ireland | X | X | |||||||
Israel | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Italy | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Japan | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Korea | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Latvia | X | X | X | X | |||||
Lithuania | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Luxembourg | X | X | |||||||
Mexico | X | X | X | X | |||||
Netherlands | X | X | X | X | |||||
New Zealand | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Norway | X | X | X | ||||||
Poland | X | X | X | X | |||||
Portugal | X | X | X | X | |||||
Slovak Republic | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
Slovenia | X | X | X | X | |||||
Spain | X | ||||||||
Sweden | X | X | |||||||
Switzerland | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Turkey | X | X | X | Pandemic | |||||
United Kingdom | X | X | X | X | |||||
United States | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Total | 36 | 30 | 28 | 10 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
Table A.9. Q3 Major challenges experienced over the last 9 months – Country notes | |
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Australia | Lack of investor demand: Absence of investor demand was a problem only for a short period in late March and early April. |
Austria | In March 2020 the whole team of the Austrian Treasury has been switched to work from remote locations. This change was done very swift with no interruptions in terms of funding or other operations. At the same time the communication with markets, especially with primary dealers, has been intensified in order to enhance the understanding of investor and market behaviour. The major challenge was cash flow forecasting and to manage the changes with regards to Austria’s funding needs. |
Belgium | The Covid19 crisis has impacted the amounts we needed to raise in primary market operations. At the outbreak of the crisis markets repriced and volatility spiked. However this volatility was countered very well by the European Central Bank (ECB) and de new plans of the European Union (EU). |
Canada | The Government of Canada has significantly increased its borrowing in order to fund its coronavirus disease (COVID) response. The aggregate principal amount to be borrowed in 2020-21 is $713 billion, which is $437 billion higher than the issuance for 2019-20. Larger bond auction sizes and more frequent bond auctions has helped to increase gross bond issuance for 2020-21 to be $409 billion, an increase of $285 billion from 2019-20 levels. A significant proportion of extraordinary borrowings to date in 2020-21 has consisted of short-term instruments, mainly treasury bills as the “shock absorbers”, given the ability to issue these instruments in volume quickly to raise needed funding. By the end of the fiscal year, the treasury bill stock is expected to be $294 billion, about $142 billion higher than the level at the end of 2019-20. The Bank of Canada has also launched a number of measures and facilities to support well-functioning markets, including increasing the amount of Government of Canada securities it purchases at treasury bill auctions and bonds in secondary markets. These facilities have been very important in maintaining well-functioning markets in Canada. Canada is taking a prudent approach to financing the deficit by adding a third objective to its debt management strategy to significantly increase long-term bonds to lock in funding at historically low interest rates. This will ensure Canada’s debt remains affordable and sustainable for future generations and less vulnerable to increases in interest rates. |
Colombia | In 2020, an important challenge in the local market was the high volatility during the first three months of the pandemic. During the first three months of the pandemic we used non-conventional sources of funding, which included intra-government loans, to avoid access to markets at high financing rates. We also optimized the use of other financial sources as the loans with development banks and multilateral organizations. |
Denmark | We experienced a lack of demand for both bonds and T-bills back in March/April 2020 at the peak of the corona virus. However demand was largely recovered by the end of April. |
Germany | There were and are no major risk factors/events affecting our primary market operations. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged us to adapt both, our funding strategy and communication formats. We were able to master this smoothly. |
Iceland | Lack of demand on the longer end. |
Ireland | Markets faced significant volatility in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as market participants adapted to the new environment. Ireland increased its planned funding range from €10-14bn to an increased €20-24bn. |
Italy | No other challenges has been faced by the Treasury in the last 9 months |
Norway | The government’s borrowing requirement increased as a consequence of the coronavirus outbreak. The re-establishment of The Government Bond Fund (GBF), with a limit of up to NOK 50bn, is financed by government borrowing. The GBF will contribute to increased liquidity and capital in the bond market by purchasing interest-bearing securities issued by Norwegian companies on market-based terms. As a result of the increased borrowing requirement, changes were made to the strategy and borrowing programme in March and June 2020. Part of the increased borrowing was covered by reopening the 10 year bond by syndication. During the challenging market conditions in March and April, primary dealers quoted wider spreads for government bonds and Treasury bills. Norges Bank allowed primary dealers to quote a price spread of up to three times the normal price spread between bid and offer price in the period between 11 March and 1 April, twice the normal spread between 2 and 14 April, and up to one-and-one-half times the normal spread between 15 and 30 April 2020. |
Slovak Republic | Temporary lack of demand in March and April. Back to normal after Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) implementation. |
Slovenia | All of the challenges specified above resulted from COVID-19 pandemic circumstances on global and national level. |
Spain | Expected net funding needs increased from €32,5bn to €110bn due to the COVID crisis. Despite this important increase, debt issuance has remained very stable, with strong investor demand and good bid-to-cover ratios. This stability combined with lower interest rates, has allowed both an increase in the average life of outstanding debt and a lower cost of debt issued, despite an increase in net funding needs. This has allowed Spain to reduce its refinancing risk and keep a positive investor sentiment. |
Switzerland | Due to the pandemic, the funding needs of the government increased significantly: expenditures increased by roughly 15 billion CHF (more than one sixth of the normal budget, around 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) with additional 17 billion CHF in outstanding guarantees that could lead to further spending. The pandemic and its impact on the funding needs were – and still are -– linked to great uncertainty (e.g. what and when the government will decide; how the economy will respond; how increased government funding needs will affect the financing conditions of other market participants). This led to challenges in cash flow forecasting and in the communication with fiscal and monetary authorities on the one hand and in the communication with the markets on the other. The communication with market participants was especially challenging as the funding needs of the government changed throughout the year. In order to achieve the Federal Treasury’s goal of maintaining a constant and reliable market presence, a trade-off had to be found between transparency and maintaining the necessary flexibility to adjust the funding plan. All this was accompanied by operational challenges (e.g. remote working, team splitting) and a significantly higher market volatility especially in the first few months of the pandemic. |
United Kingdom | The unprecedented impact of COVID-19, in terms of both the size and the pace of the funding requirement in 2020-21, created pressure on our gilt operational capacity which required us to introduce a significant re-design of the delivery our gilt auctions (see table 3 above). Equally, in terms of our Exchequer cash management responsibilities, the uncertainties associated with COVID-19 expenditure also posed challenges for government cash-flow forecasting and the management of the resulting cash positions. |
Table A.10. Q4 Major risk factors/events faced in the last 12 months | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
COVID-19 risks on a global basis | COVID-19 risks on a national basis | Global financial risks | Local financial risks | Political risks | Changes in borrowing needs | Contingent liabilities including any state guarantee | Liquidity risk | Revisions to the financial regulations | Operational risks | |
Australia | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Austria | X | X | X | |||||||
Belgium | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Canada | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Colombia | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Czech Republic | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Denmark | X | X | X | |||||||
Estonia | X | X | X | |||||||
Finland | X | X | X | |||||||
France | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Germany | X | X | X | |||||||
Greece | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Hungary | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Iceland | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Ireland | X | X | X | |||||||
Israel | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Italy | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Japan | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Korea | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Latvia | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Lithuania | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Luxembourg | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Mexico | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Netherlands | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
New Zealand | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Norway | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Poland | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Portugal | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Slovak Republic | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Slovenia | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Spain | X | X | X | |||||||
Sweden | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Switzerland | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Turkey | X | |||||||||
United Kingdom | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
United States | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Total | 32 | 33 | 17 | 3 | 8 | 35 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 17 |
Table A.11. Major risk factors/events which might affect your operations in the next 12 months | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
COVID-19 risks on a global basis | COVID-19 risks on a national basis | Global financial risks | Local financial risks | Political risks | Changes in borrowing needs | Contingent liabilities including any state guarantee | Liquidity risk | Revisions to the financial regulations | Operational risks | |
Australia | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Austria | X | X | X | |||||||
Belgium | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Canada | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Colombia | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Czech Republic | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Denmark | X | X | X | |||||||
Estonia | X | X | X | |||||||
Finland | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
France | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Germany | X | |||||||||
Greece | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Hungary | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Iceland | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Ireland | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Israel | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Italy | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Japan | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Korea | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Latvia | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Lithuania | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Luxembourg | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Mexico | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Netherlands | ||||||||||
New Zealand | X | X | X | |||||||
Norway | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Poland | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Portugal | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Slovak Republic | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
Slovenia | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Spain | X | |||||||||
Sweden | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Switzerland | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Turkey | X | |||||||||
United Kingdom | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
United States | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Total | 30 | 33 | 19 | 4 | 12 | 30 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 14 |
Table A.12. Q4 Major risk factors/events which might affect your operations – Country notes | |
---|---|
France | In the next 12 months the main risks would be a more rapid than anticipated normalization of ECB monetary policy even if it is unlikely, and higher losses than expected on the contingent liabilities inherited from the national emergency plan (bank loans granted by the State guarantee). Also a resurgence of the pandemic whether at national or international level remains a key source of risks. In the last 12 months, the DMO didn’t face liquidity risk but was involved in reducing the liquidity risk other actors were exposed to in March-April, before the implementation of the appropriate monetary policy actions. |
Ireland | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and potential Brexit impact. |
Norway | Norwegian interest rates are highly correlated with foreign interest rates. Sudden international events related to monetary policy as well as asset purchasing programs can therefore affect the demand for Norwegian government bonds significantly. |
Spain | The COVID-19 pandemic poses an important risk for our DMO, both on a national level (because of the strong effects the pandemic had on the Spanish economy) and global level (because of the increased inter-dependence between EU countries and the importance of foreign investors inside Spanish Government Bonds (SPGB’s) investor base). The immediate effect of the crisis on borrowing needs was a serious risk, which thankfully didn’t pose a problem for debt issuance in 2020 and 2021. |
Table A.13. Q5 How these risks are mitigated (e.g. contingency funding plans, continuity plan etc.)? | |
---|---|
Australia | The AOFM has increased its cash buffers to mitigate funding risks. Term issuance programs have been front loaded and usage of short term financing through Treasury Notes has materially increased. |
Austria | The Republic of Austria mitigates funding risks with its diversity of funding sources and instruments as well as financial flexibility due to its scarcity. We also try to spread issuances over the year in order to minimize concentration risk and diversify interest rate risk. |
Belgium | We remain of course exposed to global financial conditions and in that respect exposed to ‘global financial risks’. The prefunding increased, driven mostly by an additional large syndicated transaction and additional Certificats de trésorerie (CT) and Bond auctions. The market demand for sovereign bonds remained very high driven by the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) and the PEPP. |
Canada | The Government of Canada (GoC) employs an open and collaborative approach for its debt management function. Actions such as publishing market notices which act as information communiques containing operational details, and/or new program announcements have been effective. Senior government officials have also effectively communicated changes in funding needs and information on programs and operations during public appearances/speeches. This approach has helped to ensure the well-functioning of the Government of Canada markets and favourable conditions for market liquidity in both the primary and secondary Government of Canada securities markets. In addition, new programs and changes to existing programs that have been announced by the Government to support key financial markets to ensure that they continue to function properly, have been well received by market participants and PDs. Given the government’s unprecedented borrowing requirements due to COVID-19, Government officials have also communicated directly to PDs in order to reinforce PDs significant role in Government of Canada Debt Distribution Framework (DDF) in helping to manage the huge increase in Government issuance and providing secondary market liquidity to the GoC market. Being open and transparent in the communication strategy with PDs has also been an effective approach to motivating dealers to provide liquidity to the market and to support primary market issuance. The following are two examples of Canada’s transparency in communication with financial market participants: • Publication of the quarterly bond schedule prior to the start of each quarter in advance of auctions • Publishing details for each operation in a call for tender a week prior to the auction |
Czech Republic | Risks arising from domestic or global financial markets are managed operatively by flexible debt issuance strategy, which is published for following year and updated in the mid-term. Additionally, the decisions related to gross issuance are discussed and approved by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) management every quarter. DMO also keeps sufficient liquidity buffer within single treasury accounts and forecasts future state debt service expenditure on high percentile. |
Denmark | The increased uncertainty regarding the financing requirement in 2020 has made it necessary to exhibit a higher degree of flexibility in the issuance. A large part of the financing comes from issuance of short-term papers; Commercial Papers (which are issued in either EUR or USD) and domestic T-bills. The short-term papers, in particular the commercial papers, may quickly be adjusted to changes in the financing requirement. |
Estonia | COVID-19 pandemic risk on a national basis increased the government borrowing needs. In order to mitigate the risk of changes in government’s borrowing needs, a minimum liquidity requirement was introduced and committed credit facilities with the main local partner banks were established already in 2011. The minimum required level of the liquidity position equals the State’s six-month negative net cash flow comprising: (i) transactional requirements, meaning the excess of budgeted monthly outgoings over budgeted revenue (also taking into account entities such as the Health Insurance Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund whose cash management is consolidated with central government), including debt and interest payments during the next one-month period, and (ii) precautionary requirements, representing an estimate of the deterioration in budgeted tax revenues over the following six months in the event of an economic downturn of the severity experienced in 2009 and a provision for liabilities from guarantees given by the State that are expected to crystallise in the following six months. The actual liquidity position is calculated as (a) the Liquidity Reserve (deposits with maximum three months maturity, current accounts and bonds, liquid and high-grade) plus (b) undrawn amounts from facilities committed for at least the following three months (by banks). These facilities also serve to mitigate operational risks and to ensure that unexpected large outgoing payments can be made without having to liquidate investments. Borrowing strategy document was introduced in 2020 and is updated regularly. |
Finland | For operational risk process guidelines and checkpoints. There are also contingency and continuity plans. |
France | Cash buffer and margin of manoeuvre on the short term funding programme. |
Germany | Our issuance planning and market entrance allows for adjustments during the year. Major short-term changes can be handled well via our bill instruments. With regard to operational challenges, we were able to access existing contingency plans or expand them accordingly. |
Hungary | Flexible issuance plan, contingency plans, communication with market participants, prefinancing. |
Iceland | In short, we will have to adapt our auction program to higher funding needs by issuing more series as well as to increase the maximum size for each series. We need to be flexible in our debt strategy plan. Maintaining higher liquidity position; front-loaded funding. |
Ireland | Large cash balance in place, plan issuance schedule around known events |
Israel | Our funding plans include several scenarios, and for each scenario we carefully built a detailed plan of action and several contingency plans. |
Italy | The new macroeconomic context required the Italian Treasury to increase the volume of public debt issuances (net funding increased from around 45€ bn pre-COVID-19 to around 180-200€ bn post-COVID-19). Moreover, the Italian treasury focused its debt management policies in increasing the average life of the debt to mitigate the risk of refinancing by diluting over time the volumes to place on the market and to decrease the issuer’s exposure to sudden increases in interest rates. In addition to the national policy of risk mitigation, the ECB programs during the COVID-19 crisis helped to mitigate the market volatility and to stabilize the Italian BTPs yield curve limiting its volatility. |
Japan | Two supplementary budgets were formulated in response to the "emergency economic measures to cope with COVID-19", Cabinet Decision in April, 2020 and the JGB issuance plan was revised based on these budgets. In the case of rapid changes in fiscal demands, we will adjust the amount of front-loading Refunding bonds in order to mitigate additional impacts on the JGB market. Also, we will deal with a decline in market liquidity through Liquidity Enhancement Auction, an additional issuance of off-the-run bonds. |
Korea | Extend incentives given to primary dealers such as non-competitive bid options, Set the contingency plan to facilitate the absorption of the increased amount of bond issuance and stabilize financial markets. |
Latvia | We have used and will apply pre-funding approach to ensure sufficient liquidity in the Treasury accounts for financing COVID-19 related measures and other general budget needs. We have successfully switched to remote work - now our daily business mainly is provided by electronic communication. Constrains remain regarding the electronic signature of documents with partners abroad as not all partners use digital signatures. |
Lithuania | When redeeming major (equivalent to EUR 1 billion and above) Eurobond issues, the risks are mitigated by allocating the required funds in advance. Also we can use the reserve (stabilization) fund for the debt redemptions. The taken amount must be returned to the fund within few years. |
Luxembourg | Contingency funding plans |
Mexico | The Federal Government has implemented several measures to protect public finance from unexpected and adverse events. In terms of financing, since 2009, the Federal Government has an arrangement for a Flexible Credit Line (FCL) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On November 22, 2019 the FCL was renewed by an amount of Special Drawing Right (SDR) 44.5635 billion, close to US$ 61.4 billion. |
Netherlands | In the process of setting up a business continuity plan. Interest rate risk is monitored on a continuous basis with specific targets. Refinancing risk is kept to a minimum through maintaining a sizeable money market, keeping redemption profiles roughly balanced, and having the possibility to temporarily store cash at the Dutch central bank. Moreover, funding plans are drafted with sufficient flexibility to deal with unexpected changes (whilst at the same time maintaining sufficient predictability for investors). |
New Zealand | COVID-19 pandemic risk – we take a long-term structured approach to our funding strategy, rather than trying to tactically responding to short-term market dynamics. Our intention is to provide as much certainty as possible and thereby reduce the uncertainty or illiquidity premiums that are applied to our bonds. Over the long-term we believe this will place us in the best possible position in the backdrop of global financial risks that are beyond our control. Political risks – we avoid syndications around the timing of elections. We emphasise to investors the continuity of fiscal prudence between parties, and that the strengths of the NZ sovereign rating are independent of a particular political party. Change in Government borrowing needs – we typically revisit funding plans two/three times a year alongside Economic and Fiscal Updates. We maintain a minimum size of the New Zealand Government Bond (NZGB) market, to ensure access to a liquid market if borrowing needs were to increase in future. Liquidity risk – we maintain a liquidity buffer of high quality liquid assets in the event more funds are required in the short-term. We also have the option to increase T-Bill and ECP issuance in the short-term. |
Norway | We aim at being as transparent as possible about the borrowing need and upcoming transactions. |
Poland | Holding a cash buffer. Flexibility in terms of issuance: instruments, markets, issuance techniques. Maintaining the relations with investors and developing the investor base. |
Portugal | When preparing the financing plan for the year, potential risk factors are taken into account, therefore we anticipate as much as we can the financial schedule aiming to comfortably raise the funds to cover not only the year needs but also prefunding at least 30% of the following year gross funding needs and/or execute liability management exercises with the cost of debt reduction and smooth of redemption profile objectives. We also have contingency funding plans – e.g. we can launch new financial instruments at short notice if need be. |
Slovak Republic | Implemented continuity plan and sufficient liquidity buffer. Most of the risks is mitigated by ECB/local central bank presence under PSPP and PEPP. |
Slovenia | Prefunding up to the amount of principal repayments due in next two budget years is allowed by the Public Finance Act, which provides additional flexibility of the annual state budget funding. The Single Treasury Account provide cash buffer from which the state budget can borrow. This provides for additional/back up funding source for the state budget funding in periods of stressed market conditions. The Financing Program provides a set of alternative funding instruments to be used if due to market conditions, it will not be possible to execute the primary choice of funding instruments. All of these mitigation tools have been in place in pre-COVID crisis period already and are considered adequate for current circumstances. Off the run lines of bonds with short term residual maturity were offered for buy-back in order to decrease refinancing risk in the 1Q of 2021. |
Spain | Availability of alternative borrowing channels, such as NGEU and SURE. Flexible planning of DMO’s debt issuance strategy. Frequent contact with investors, market-makers and other market participants. |
Sweden | Our communicated strategy is to first managing fluctuations in the borrowing requirement by adjusting T-bill issuance and bonds in foreign currency and then gradually adjusting the supply of nominal government bonds. It is also important to have different borrowing methods (auction, syndications, private placements) and maintain short-term funding market (T-Bills, repos). |
Switzerland | The Treasury develops the auction calendar and issuance program in close cooperation with the budgetary units of the Ministry of Finance. In addition, the issuance program is revised on a quarterly basis and, if necessary, adapted according to the funding needs of the government. These updates are also approved by the Asset & Liability committee of the Treasury, on which – among others – the budgetary units and the Swiss National Bank are represented. With this rolling planning, potential risk factors can be taken into account for the issuance program and at each quarterly adaption. Thanks to this process and the relatively large liquidity buffer (see Q11), there is enough time and flexibility to adapt the funding strategy in a timely manner should risks materialize. |
Turkey | In order to mitigate the unnecessary spreading of the virus and ensure business continuity, flexible working arrangements has been placed. For staff who are not required to be in the office, remote working arrangements has been enabled. Besides, Turkish Treasury has an emergency and business continuity plan to deal with the operational risks since 2011. The business continuity plan (BCP) is updated annually and whenever deemed necessary. In that regard, at the beginning of the pandemic, we updated the BCP to cover the case of a pandemic, revised the critical roles, the skills needed to fulfil these positions, and replacements/substitutes for key individuals. In addition, Debt and Risk Management Committee closely monitors and evaluates recent changes in global, local markets and budget realizations and government borrowing needs. With respect to these developments, if needed, the Committee determines new strategies for debt management. |
United Kingdom | The UK DMO has a longstanding practice of providing as much transparency to the market about our supply plans as possible, which has served the DMO and the market well, supporting good gilt market functioning and smooth price adjustment to the new clearing level. In addition, we have a longstanding practice of consulting with the market about current demand conditions before confirming our detailed plans for the period ahead; this gives scope to reflect shifts in demand conditions into our issuance programme on a regular basis. |
United States | Established liquidity buffer to mitigate risk of disruptions to market access and the broader financial system; multiple backup systems and auction sites to safeguard Treasury’s auction capabilities. |
Table A.14. Q6 Do you consider potential risk factors when preparing your financing plan (e.g. auction calendar)? | |||
---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | Comment | |
Australia | X | The AOFM announces its issuance intentions each Friday for the following week. Care is taken to avoid market relevant data/events/holidays where applicable. | |
Austria | X | In general, potential risk factors (e.g. forthcoming elections, geo-political events, central bank meetings etc.) and competing supply are considered when preparing the financing plan. The auction calendar dates are announced in December for the forthcoming year in order to maintain the highest possible degree of predictability. We tend to stick to these calendar dates regardless of potential risk factors. However, we have flexibility with regards to the amount and bond(s) issued at each auction (which is announced on Thursdays in the week before the auction) depending on demand and market conditions. At syndications we have more room to adjust in function of known upcoming events. | |
Belgium | X | In terms of the auction programs we maintain the highest possible degree of predictability. For syndications we do of course have more liberty to adjust in function of known upcoming events. | |
Canada | X | Flexibility is built in our financing plan to adjust to lower or higher financial requirements (e.g., contingency planning). The quarterly bond schedule (auction calendar) is designed to ensure that there are no auctions taking place on the same days as the interest rate announcement dates in Canada and in the United States. The potential impact of public speaking engagements of members of the Governing Council of the Bank of Canada is also considered and utmost care is utilized to avoid inadvertent impact on Government of Canada primary market auctions. Call for tenders for primary market auctions are released in the morning (instead of the afternoon) in the week before an auction week when the markets are closed for a long weekend (i.e. a national/provincial holiday). The auction calendar also provides information on the specific sector of the to-be auctioned security and total amounts maturing on the auction day (across other securities). Market participants are closely consulted as part of the process of developing the debt management strategy. To support a liquid and well-functioning Government of Canada securities market, the Government strives to promote transparency and regularity. | |
Colombia | X | ||
Czech Republic | X | Financing plan is prepared in accordance with financing needs, state budget deficit development, state treasury development, internal forecast and last but not least with situation on bond markets and primary dealers’ demand. In the internal forecast Ministry takes into account relevant financial risks arising from the situations on global and local financial markets (i. e. estimate of expenditure on state debt service in particular years), political risk related to state debt management and expenditure on state debt service (state debt level, expenditure level) etc. | |
Denmark | X | ||
Estonia | X | For a small country like Estonia it is essential to be prepared for different funding alternatives (multilateral loans, revolving lines, t-bills, bonds) | |
Finland | X | Annual funding plan is based on a baseline scenario | |
France | X | We take into account the most likely annual trajectory of our financing programme and try to smooth it by running a buybacks programme and sizing the t-bill programme. However, our auction calendar is fixed. | |
Germany | X | We tried and try to consider (avoid) days of foreseeable high volatility / uncertainty while preparing our annual auction calendar. | |
Greece | X | ||
Hungary | X | We do that by making the financing plan rather flexible. The auction calendar is fixed for the given calendar year, however, the DMO has flexibility in determining the offered amounts and the accepted amounts at the auctions, and it has other tools such as the non-competitive top-up phase after the auctions; all these help to adjust the financing by wholesale instruments. The demand for retail debt can usually be adjusted effectively by setting the interest rate of the retail T-bills and bonds. Short-term liquidity management instruments (mainly repos) are available for handling temporary situations and a sizeable cash buffer is also held on the Treasury Single Account and in Foreign Exchange (FX) deposits. The annual amount of FX bond issuance is also flexible in the financing plan, depending on the government’s financing needs and demand for local government securities. All these measures have been in effect for many years, and were revised and enhanced this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
Iceland | X | In the auction programs we try to maintain high degree of predictability. Twelve month auction calendar is published in December for the following year. However flexibility is built in our financing plan for example regarding the amount issued at each auction. | |
Ireland | X | Auctions are announced quarterly. Consideration is given to known market events which may influence auction outcomes. | |
Israel | X | ||
Italy | X | The Italian Treasury funding plan is inspired by the principles of transparency and predictability. In order to handle possible risks deriving from a national and international geopolitical scenario, the funding strategy is oriented toward managing interest-rate and refinancing risks, so as to continue to keep exposure to such risks under control. However, the above-mentioned factors are characterized by a level of uncertainty which makes difficult to predict their evolution over time. Therefore, the Treasury funding strategy keeps a sufficient degree of flexibility in order to quickly response and adapt its funding plan to the evolution of the market context, as occurred during the peak of COVID-19 crisis (for details please see answer to the question n° 1b). | |
Japan | X | We attach importance to predictability of issuance in formulating annual JGB Issuance Plans. To this end, front-loading issuance of Refunding Bonds is permitted for the purpose of mitigating the impact of concentration of bond redemption at maturity and controlling fluctuations in the amount of JGB market issuance across fiscal years. For instance, when it is clear in advance that bond redemption at maturity will concentrate in a certain fiscal year, which could lead to a sharp rise in the issuance of Refunding Bonds, the amount of JGB issuance between fiscal years can be levelled by front-loading the issuance of Refunding Bonds. Also, front-loading issuance of Refunding Bonds can serve to address a sharp fluctuation of fiscal needs without bringing about additional impact on the market. | |
Korea | X | Mediate the amount of the bonds being issued according to the market conditions | |
Latvia | X | ||
Lithuania | X | Potential risk factors are considered to some extent, however, we publish our auction calendar for three months in advance and auction details 5 working days in advance, so we have little flexibility to react if markets open in a bad shape on the day of the auction. We tend to manage risk by adjusting the borrowing amounts if needed. | |
Luxembourg | X | ||
Mexico | X | The Annual Borrowing Plan and Quarterly Securities Auction Calendars are designed taking into account potential risk factors. The auction calendars are flexible in order to respond to changes in demand from local and foreign investors, as well as cash flow needs in the treasury account. | |
Netherlands | X | ||
New Zealand | X | We take a strategic approach to our bond tender issuance, pre-announcing the full details of the auction calendar a month in advance. We avoid scheduling auctions: • On the day of meetings of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) • On the day of significant fiscal announcements such as the Budget or release of Crown accounts • During the New Zealand summer holiday period, where there is the risk of low participation. By contrast, the precise timing of syndications are based on a tactical assessment of when will provide optimal investor participation. Potential risk factors are considered in detail when choosing a date. We also maintain the flexibility for the volume of Treasury Bill tender issuance by announcing the volumes and maturities the day prior to the tender. | |
Norway | X | Issuances in both bills and bonds are spread over the year. An auction calendar for the whole year is published in December the preceding year. The normal auction amount in reopenings is NOK 2-3 billion. Should we experience any challenges in covering the auctions, we might consider increasing the number of auctions and reduce the volume in each auction. | |
Poland | X | In the annual auction calendar, the dates of the auctions are planned on days when there are no decisions of central banks (ECB, Federal Reserve, Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP)) as well as rating agencies' decisions regarding Poland. In monthly plans, the offer of domestic T-bonds at auctions is adjusted on an ongoing basis to the current and forecast market and budget situation. | |
Portugal | X | Contrary to T-Bills, Portuguese Treasury and Debt Management Agency (IGCP) does not have a defined auction calendar for T-Bonds (Portuguese Government Bonds (PGB)). Instead, there are two issuance windows per month (2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month) and on the Friday of the week preceding the auction date we confirm (or not) the tender and announce the lines to be opened and the target size for the auction. | |
Slovak Republic | X | Potential risk factors are very important in Syndicate deals with large expected volumes to be sold. In regular auctions the risks are less important. We prepare the auction calendar (dates of the auctions) for the whole year and try to avoid any changes or cancellations. But we announce particular type of the offered bonds in the auctions (together with intended amounts) only few weeks before the auction, following the actual demand/feedback from the primary dealer (PD) and investors. | |
Slovenia | X | The Funding program framework is set up to allow adjustments of the auction calendar, auction sizes, offered maturities in line with intra fiscal year changes of market circumstances and borrowing requirement. Refinancing risk due to volatility and unfavourable conditions for execution of the government bonds and T-bills in the financial markets is considered in the yearly Financing Program. The Financing Program maintains adherence to the principle of predictability by stating the necessary amounts of financing and the instruments of financing (the primary and alternative ones). Following the flexibility principle, the actual choice of instruments (type, structure, maturity, currency), the size of each instrument selected and the timing of borrowing will depend on the actual market conditions and investors’ demand. Government bonds and T-bills are stated as primary instrument for funding of the predominant part of the central government budget financing in the Financing program. However, the Financing Program provides a set of alternative funding instruments to be used if due to market conditions, it will not be possible to execute the primary choice of funding instruments. | |
Spain | X | We prepare flexible auction targets to be able to respond to market demand and various other factors when conducting the auction. We also anticipate possible changes to the market, so investors are aware of possible changed as soon as possible. | |
Sweden | X | There continues to be great uncertainty about how the budget balance will develop in the future, but the Debt Office is well-prepared for both increasing and decreasing borrowing. If the borrowing requirement in the short term is smaller than forecast, the Debt Office can allow funding within liquidity management to decrease or further reduce the T-bill borrowing. If the borrowing requirement becomes larger and it is not considered appropriate to further increase the borrowing in krona, the Debt Office can borrow in foreign currency, both with bonds and commercial paper. | |
Switzerland | X | See Q5. | |
Turkey | X | The Turkish Treasury shares the main framework of the yearly borrowing plan through the Treasury Financing Program announcement. Throughout the year, in the end of each month further details on the auction calendar are shared in the 3-month borrowing strategy. During the preparations of each announcement, Debt Office receives monthly and yearly risk assessments from the Risk Department. These assessments include simulation based analyses are carried out in order to assess the cost - risk profile of the debt stock and to design the main debt management policy of the Turkish Treasury. In addition to those quantitative assessments, other qualitative potential risk factors, like geo-political or operational, are also considered during the final evaluation stage. | |
United Kingdom | X | The key high level risks taken into account from the debt management perspective when preparing the annual financing remit are: interest rate risk, refinancing risk, inflation risk, liquidity risk and execution risk. Assessment of these risks (alongside an assessment of cost and the pattern of demand) will impact the skew of issuance both between conventional and index-linked gilts and, within conventional gilt issuance, the split between maturities. The assessment can also impact the number, type, size and scheduling of gilt operations. | |
United States | X | The Office of Debt Management considers uncertainty surrounding the government’s borrowing needs. | |
Total | 34 | 1 |
Table A.15. Q7 Compared to the original funding plans, to what extent has your government’s funding needs changed over the last 9 months that as a DMO you need to raise? (for example in terms of additional nominal amount, or additional % of 2019 GDP) | |
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Australia | By 30 June 2021, gross debt will be around 16% per cent higher (as a proportion of GDP) than originally expected (pre-pandemic). Around ¾ of that change has been funded across the last 9 months. |
Austria | Total issuance 2020 (all instruments) has been revised upwards to around 60bn EUR (vs. previous estimate of 31-34bn EUR) on June 5, 2020. Thereof RAGB issuance 2020 was revised to a minimum of35bn EUR (vs. previous estimate of 18-21bn EUR). T-Bills outstanding as of end-2020 was announced to be a minimum of 16bn EUR (vs. 7.4bn EUR outstanding as of end-2019). |
Belgium | Due to the COVID-19 crisis we adjusted our funding plan for the year. The initial adjustment almost doubled the estimated funding needs, from 31bn EUR to 60bn EUR. The latest update settles on an increase by +/-70%, but uncertainty remains high with COVID-19 flaring up everywhere in Europe. |
Canada | The Government of Canada manages its funding plan according to the annual Debt Management Strategy (DMS) which is legislated to be tabled within 30 sittings days of the beginning of the fiscal year. The Government of Canada’s fiscal year-end is March 31. The funding plan for fiscal year 2020-21 was released in July 2020 and can be found here: Government’s funding needs have increased substantially over the last 9 months as a result of emergency spending measures that the Government of Canada has introduced to support individuals and businesses that have been impacted due to the pandemic. One comparison of changes in funding needs is a year-over-year comparison. For the first nine months of 2019, total issuance of domestic Government of Canada Bonds and Treasury Bills was $336.3 billion Canadian Dollars (CAD). For the first nine months of 2020, total issuance of domestic Government of Canada Bonds and Treasury Bills was $814.667 billion CAD. Based on 2019 GDP of close to $2 trillion CAD, this would be an incremental year-over-year increase in issuance over the first nine months of 2020 of approximately 23.9% of GDP. |
Colombia | Due to the pandemic, our fiscal deficit changed from a projected 2.2% of GDP in 2020 to a deficit of 7.8% of GDP. The additional funding came from a combination of our traditional sources of funding, plus the non-conventional sources previously mentioned. |
Czech Republic | Financing needs has increased due to higher crisis state budget deficit which has been gradually increased from Czech koruna (CZK) 40 billion to CZK 500 billion. |
Denmark | Based on the latest estimates from august 2020, the financing requirement in 2020 is expected to increase by the equivalent of 12% of GDP compared to the estimate from December 2019. |
Estonia | Compared to original funding plans State Treasury of Estonia had to raise additionally EUR 2.4 billion. |
Finland | Compared to original 2020 funding need, the gross funding need increased by 78% |
France | +50 % of funding needs for the whole 2020 compared to initial plan. |
Germany | Initially planned (Q1-Q3): ~ € 171 bn Actual (Q1-Q3): € 354.75 bn |
Greece | An amount of EURO 2billion was required in addition to the initial forecast. |
Hungary | In the first nine months of 2020 the cumulated deficit of the central government calculated on a cash basis was by Hungarian Forint (HUF) 1870 billion higher than the originally planned HUF 399 billion. |
Iceland | In the Government Debt Management Prospect for 2020 it was announced that the Treasury bonds would be issued in the amount of 40 bn. Icelandic Krona (ISK) market value during the year. Due to the pandemic, the Treasury has been forced to change these plans. Issuance for the first nine months of the year totalled 112 bn, ISK. market value. The total funding needs for the year amounts to 360 bn. ISK or 13% of GDP, an increase from 2% of GDP as assumed in the budget. |
Ireland | Ireland changed its planned funding range from €10-14bn to an increased €20-24bn for 2020. |
Israel | Our funding needs has grew by approximately by 100% as compared to the original funding plan, and we introduced new tools/paused other tools during 2020. |
Italy | The new macroeconomic context required the Italian Treasury to increase the volume of public debt issuances; hence, the net funding increased from around 45€ bn pre-Covid19 to around 180-200€ bn post COVID-19. |
Japan | According to the first supplementary budget for FY2020 in April and the second supplementary budget in May, we have revised the JGB Issuance Plan for FY2020 in April and in May. The total JGB issuance amount for FY2020 (the second supplementary budget) will be 253.3 trillion yen, with a rise of 99.8 trillion yen compared with FY2020 (initial). Newly-issued bonds increased by 57.6 trillion yen and FILP bonds increased by 42.2 trillion yen from the figure for FY2020 (Initial). |
Korea | (Original Issuance Plan of Annual Treasury Bonds) 130.2 trillion won→ (After four supplementary budgets) 174.5 trillion won |
Latvia | The need to finance the measures for mitigating the consequences of the spread of COVID-19 and supporting the economy, led to the increase of government funding needs in 2020. The total support (aid) for national economy in 2020 amounted to 1.3 billion euro or 4.5% of GDP with direct adverse effect on general government budgetary balance and debt. The actual general government budget deficit for 2020 amounted to 5.3% of GDP or by ~5 percentage points higher than initially forecasted (0.4% of GDP). So, in comparison with the baseline forecast at the beginning of 2020, actual borrowing amount increased by ~700 million euro in 2020. According to the current estimation, the general government debt level at the end of 2020 increased to ~44% of GDP, which is by 6 percentage points more than the level forecasted in the baseline scenario (38% of GDP). |
Lithuania | The government’s funding needs over the last 9 months increased by EUR 2,660 million or by 5.5 per cent of 2019 GDP looking at the factual revenue and expenditure of the last months. |
Luxembourg | Luxembourg government planned to raise 1.000 million EUR in 2020, finally raised 4.350 million EUR to face the consequences of COVID-19 crisis. 350 million raised by Treasury Bills will be reimbursed before the end of 2020. |
Mexico | The public sector borrowing requirements are projected to be 4.7% of GDP in 2020. This level is higher than the original estimate of the 2.6% target in the General Criteria of Economic Policy 2020. |
Netherlands | Funding need for 2020 changed from € 42.8 bn in January to € 135.8 bn in April to € 138.8 bn in June to € 110.7 bn in September |
New Zealand | At the Half Year Update, in December 2019, the borrowing programme forecasts for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 fiscal years were both set at NZ$10 billion. However, in May 2020, at the Budget Update, the 2019/20 and 2020/21 fiscal year borrowing programmes were increased to NZ$25 billion and NZ$60 billion respectively. Subsequently, the 2019/20 borrowing programme was revised up to NZ$29 billion in June 2020 and the borrowing programme for 2020/21 fiscal year was revised down to NZ$50 billion in September 2020. |
Norway | Total borrowing in the form of government bonds was increased to an interval of between NOK 70bn and NOK 75bn, from originally NOK 55bn. Transfers from the Government Pension Fund Global finance fiscal measures taken to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Poland | The funding needs increased by Polish Zloty (PLN) 69.2 bn (3.0% of 2019 GDP) on the domestic market and by PLN 18.8 bn (0.8% of 2019 GDP) on the foreign markets. |
Portugal | Compared to the original estimate (December 2019), State net borrowing needs for 2020 are estimated to have increased by EUR 9.8 bn (according to 2021 Draft State Budget). The impact on total funding for the year was slightly higher: as State net borrowing needs for 2021 will also be higher than expected before COVID-19 outbreak, leaving the target cash buffer for end-2020 higher than originally planned. |
Slovak Republic | Up 5 billion euro, which means approximately double the original amount, approximately 5% of GDP. |
Slovenia | The original funding plan for financing the needs of the 2020 central budget execution amounted to EUR 1.6 bn. Due to COVID-19 pandemic reasons the funding need for the execution of the 2020 central budget has risen to EUR 7.2 bn. |
Spain | The net funding needs planned for 2020 increase by close to €75bn, from €32,5bn to €109,9bn. |
Sweden | Sweden's funding needs for 2020 have increased by Swedish krona (SEK) 241 billion over the last 9 months. That is the differences between the forecasts for January and September. |
Switzerland | Funding needs of the Swiss Government have been increased by about 15 billion CHF (around 2 per cent of Swiss GDP), a substantial part of that has been financed using the liquidity buffer. |
Turkey | Originally, Turkish lira (TL) 357.2 billion of financing was projected in the Annual Treasury Financing Program. In the first nine months of 2020, total borrowing has reached to TL 407.1 billion. |
United Kingdom | See Table 3 Q1b. The DMO’s original remit for 2020-21 (set on 11 March 2020) was for £156.1 billion. On 31 March, the target for April alone was increased to £45 billion. On 23 April the target for April-July was announced as £225 billion, on 29 June the target to end-August was increased to £275 billion and on 16 July it was set at a minimum of £385 billion to the end of November 2020. The next update to the DMO’s financing remit took place alongside the Office of Budgetary Responsibility’s economic and fiscal forecast on 25 November and raised the 2020-21 financial year target to £485.5 billion. |
United States | Funding needs have changed substantially. For FY2020, borrowing needs increased by approximately $3.4 trillion. |
Table A.16. Q8 In terms of the maturity structure of debt issuance, what is the share of money market instruments (i.e. T-Bills and repos) in total funding during the last 9 months? | ||||||||||
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Australia | Treasury Notes account for approximately 1/5 of total funding over the last 9 months. | |||||||||
Austria | Around 20% | |||||||||
Belgium | Out of total realized funding means of 45.96 bn EUR at the end of September, 1.46 bn EUR, or slightly over 3% was realized through an increase in our T-Bills. | |||||||||
Canada | Total domestic issuance during the last nine months of 2020 (January 1st to September 30th) was $814.667 billion CAD. Money market instruments issued (i.e. Treasury Bills) were $541.5 billion CAD which makes up approximately 66% of total issuance during this time period. | |||||||||
Colombia | The share of money market instruments (short-term bonds) is 3.70% of total funding. | |||||||||
Czech Republic | Share of money market instruments excluding revolving in the same year is approximately 12% of total funding in the first 9 months in 2020. | |||||||||
Denmark | Net borrowing in T-bills over the last 9 months constitutes around 20% of the total funding in that period. | |||||||||
Estonia | T-bills consist 30% of issuance. | |||||||||
Finland | 44% | |||||||||
France | Money market instruments (Bons du Trésor à taux fixe et à intérêts précomptés (BTF)) contributed to 22 % of the funding needs between January and September 2020 (€60 Bn increase in outstanding). The share of T-bills in the total State debt accounts of 8% as of end September and at the end of December 2019 this share was smaller (6%). | |||||||||
Germany | Total funding (ytd, as of 30 Sept): € 354.75 bn, thereof Bubills: € 159.5 bn (45 per cent) | |||||||||
Greece | 20% | |||||||||
Hungary | Both the share of T-bills and repos in funding were negligible; the outstanding amount of T-bills increased by HUF 67 billion, while repos increased by only HUF 18 billion. (Repos this year are not used as funding tools, but are a form of security lending to Primary Dealers.) | |||||||||
Iceland | Issues in Treasury bills have enlarged over the first nine months, or from 22 b.kr. at the beginning of the year to 144 b.kr. at the end of September. At the end of 3rd quarter, Treasury bills amounted to 12% of total central government debt. | |||||||||
Ireland | In response to the increased funding requirements as a result of the COVID-19 crisis Ireland increased its net short term debt issuance (T-Bills and ECP) from €2.3bn in Dec 2019 to a forecast €8.6bn at the end of 2020. | |||||||||
Israel | About 8% of the total funding (local and external). | |||||||||
Italy | The share of money market instruments in total funding during from January to September 2020 is about 34%. | |||||||||
Japan | The share of Treasury Bills (TBs) in the total calendar-based JGB market issuance is 21.1% during the last 9 months (Actual figures). Based on the change in JGB issuance plan for FY2020 (the second supplementary budget), the share of TBs in the total calendar-based JGB market issuance will be 41.1% for FY2020 (from April 2020 to March 2021). In addition, the issuance amount of Financing Bills (FBs) has been increasing from the viewpoint of cash management, since the demand for fiscal expenditure has been rising rapidly.([ Issuance amount of FBs, calendar-based ] Jan: 19.8 trillion yen, Feb: 20.5 trillion yen, Mar: 26.4 trillion yen, Apr: 23.9 trillion yen, May: 33.1 trillion yen, June: 52.0 trillion yen, July: 37.2 trillion yen, August: 44.5 trillion yen, September: 37.5 trillion yen ) | |||||||||
Korea | N/A: Korean Treasury Bond (KTB) does not issue the bonds with the maturity under 3 years. KTB: (3y) 20.3% (5y) 18.2% (10y) 25.6% (20y) 7.7% (30y) 25.2% (50y) 2.2% (by the end of 2019). → (3y) 19.2% (5y) 19.6% (10y) 26.5 (20y) 7.7% (30y) 24.3% (50y) 2.4% (by August 2020) | |||||||||
Latvia | We have not used T-bills and repos in 2020. | |||||||||
Lithuania | 98.5 per cent is long-term bonds. There was just one issuance of short-term instruments during the last 9 months. | |||||||||
Luxembourg | 8,05 % | |||||||||
Mexico | In March 2020, 12.4% of the outstanding local debt in federal government securities corresponded to Treasury Bills (CETES). At the end of September 2020, the share of Treasury Bills represented 13.9% of the government securities. | |||||||||
Netherlands | Between March 1 2020 and October 30 2020 the Dutch State issued € 83.8 bn worth of Dutch Treasury Certificates (DTCs) (T-bills) and € 36.7 bn worth of Dutch State Loans (DSLs) (T-bonds), resulting in a gross share of money market funding vs capital market funding of roughly 70% and 30% respectively. On a net basis (accounting for refinancing of T-bills) the ratio is € 56.1 bn DTCs (T-bills) vs. € 36.7 bn DSLs (T-bonds), resulting in a net share of money market funding vs capital market funding of roughly 60% and 40% respectively. | |||||||||
New Zealand | The share of money market instruments have increased over the last 9 months relative to total funding. At 31 January 2020, T-Bills outstanding were about 3% of total funding. At 30 September 2020, T-Bills and ECP were almost 10% of the total portfolio. | |||||||||
Norway | T-Bills issuance was approx.50 % of total government debt issuance. | |||||||||
Poland | Money market instruments accounted for 11% of total domestic securities issuance. | |||||||||
Portugal | Portugal’s funding in the market over January-September was raised through T-Bonds (PGB) and T-Bills. In total, gross issuance amounted to EUR 41.2 bn, of which EUR 14.1 bn (34%) refers to gross issuance of T-Bills and EUR 27.2 bn (66%) refers to gross issuance of PGB (excluding exchange offers). Net issuance of T-Bills over the first three quarters of 2020 amounted to EUR 0.7 bn. | |||||||||
Slovak Republic | 35% | |||||||||
Slovenia | In the period from January to September 2020 the total funding executed amounted to EUR 6.7 bn. Money market instruments (T-bills) are representing 1.4 % of the total funding. | |||||||||
Spain | The share of total funding in T-bills was 34.2%, which is an increase with respect to the borrowing strategy planned before the pandemic. This increase in money market instruments responds to the market’s need for liquidity and the lower cost of these securities. However, this increase in T-Bills against the COVID shock is lower than the increase that was done after the global financial crisis. This is because the Treasury has tried to reduce refinancing risk, considering the COVID-shock as more than just a short-term obstacle. In fact, the average life of maturity of our outstanding debt has increased, despite a higher net issuance of T-bills. | |||||||||
Sweden | The maturity structure of debt issuance in funding during the last months is: | |||||||||
SEK Million Total funding Money market instrument Share of money market | 30-09-2020 136 485 124 985 92% | 31-08-2020 146 421 135 421 92% | 21-07-2020 179 990 169 990 94% | 30-06-2020 146 971 135 971 93% | 31-05-2020 113 419 107 419 95% | 30-04-2020 129 792 124 292 96% | 31-03-2020 118 489 92 987 78% | 28-02-2020 39 119 34 119 87% | 31-01-2020 82 970 78 470 95% | |
Switzerland | The share of T-Bills has roughly doubled from around 8 per cent to over 15 per cent of total outstanding market debt in the course of the year. Around three quarters of issues were accounted for by T-Bills (no other money markets instruments were used). In addition to the auctions of bonds, the Treasury sold own tranches to the nominal amount of about 0.8 billion CHF (roughly 18 per cent of total bond issuance) to promote market liquidity (see Q1). The maturity of these own tranches ranged from 4 to 45 years. | |||||||||
Turkey | Total amount of zero coupon bond issuances (up to 2 years of maturity) make up 12.6% of all domestic borrowing. On the other hand, 3.3% of the domestic borrowing is made through the money market instruments. | |||||||||
United Kingdom | It is not currently planned that Treasury bills will make any net contribution to financing in 2020-21. The UK does not use repos as part of its debt management/funding strategy (although repos are used for cash management purposes). | |||||||||
United States | More than two-thirds of the aforementioned increase in borrowing was financed through increases in T-bill issuance. In the process, T-bills increased from 15.5 per cent of total marketable Treasury debt outstanding on 31 March 2020 to 25.5 per cent on 30 June 2020. |
Table A.17. Q9 What is the estimate of the impact of fiscal policy responses on your governments borrowing needs (that as a DMO you need to raise) for 2020? (for example in terms of additional nominal amount, or additional % 2019 GDP)) | |
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Australia | See response in Table 15 |
Austria | Total borrowing needs for 2020 have increased from 8.5% of 2019 GDP to around 15% of GDP. |
Belgium | At federal level, we estimate the additional funding needs at 23 bn EUR or 4.9% GDP. |
Canada | Based on the July 2020 Economic and Fiscal Snapshot projections found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/services/publications/economic-fiscal-snapshot/debt-management-strategy-2020-21.html. A budgetary deficit of $343.2 billion is expected for 2020-21 (about 15.9 per cent of GDP vs 1.5 per cent of GDP in 2019-20), the largest deficit since World War II. The Government of Canada has significantly increased its borrowing in order to fund its COVID response. The aggregate principal amount to be borrowed in 2020-21 is $713 billion, which is $437 billion higher than the issuance for 2019-20. Based on 2019 GDP this would be an incremental year-over-year increase in aggregate principal amount of borrowings of approximately 20% of GDP. The estimate of fiscal policy responses is changing rapidly as Canada is entering the second wave of COVID-19. These estimates are being monitored and revised by the Government on an ongoing basis with a range of uncertainty and estimate buffers built into this analysis/projections. There is a lot of uncertainty and unknowns as multiple fiscal and economic scenarios could unfold, stimulus measures could be extended, announced, or scaled down, and the effects of reopening the Canadian provinces and economy is unknown. In the September 2020 Speech from the Throne, which introduces the Government of Canada’s direction and goals and outlines how it will work to achieve them, the Government signalled its intention to protect and help Canadians through the pandemic and build back better with a sustainable approach for future generations. The Government also announced a fall update to its COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. |
Colombia | In 2020 the deficit rose up to 7.8% GDP from 2.5% in 2019, and central government gross debt is expected to rise to 64.8% in 2020 from 50.3% in 2019. |
Czech Republic | See response in Table 15 |
Denmark | Based on the latest estimates from august 2020, the net financing requirement in 2020 is expected to increase by the equivalent of 12% of GDP compared to the estimate from December 2019. |
Estonia | In total EUR 2.4 billion for 2020, partly covered with multilateral loan agreements. |
Finland | N/A |
France | +50 % of funding needs for the whole 2020 compared to initial plan. |
Germany | Funding plans was increased by about € 190 bn: Initially planned (2020): € 216 to 218 bn Currently planned (2020): ~ € 407 bn. |
Greece | As of today a total of EUR 12 billion borrowing needs was covered through: a) A reallocation of initially forecasted borrowing proceeds b) Additional funding of EUR 2 billion |
Hungary | The annual plan of deficit of the central government calculated on a cash basis has increased from HUF 367 billion (original plan) to HUF 3,600 billion (current expectation in October 2020). |
Iceland | It is estimated that the long-term borrowing need will rise to 180 b.kr. or 6% of GDP in the year 2020, but at the beginning of the year it was estimated 40 b.kr. Additionally, short term borrowings amounts to another 6% of GDP. Public sector debt will therefore rise from 28% of GDP at the end of 2019 to 44% of GDP by the end of 2020. |
Ireland | The total value of supports from the Irish Government in response to the pandemic is in the range of €24-€25 bn. However the amount of borrowing required by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) is lower for a number of reasons, including pre-existing cash balances and other sources of cash. Ireland’s medium-long-term borrowing range increased from €10-€14 bn to €20-€24 bn. |
Israel | In absolute term, additional roughly 120 billion shekel (about 35 billion US dollars). Approximately 100% increase compare to the original funding plan. |
Italy | The new macroeconomic context required the Italian Treasury to increase the volume of public debt issuances; hence, the net funding increased from around 45€ bn pre-COVID-19 to around 180-200€ bn post COVID-19. |
Japan | According to the first supplementary budget for FY2020 in April and the second supplementary budget in May, we have revised the JGB Issuance Plan for FY2020 in April and in May. The total JGB issuance amount for FY2020 (the second supplementary budget) will be 253.3 trillion yen, with a rise of 99.8 trillion yen compared with FY2020 (initial). Newly-issued bonds increased by 57.6 trillion yen and Fiscal Investment and Loan Program (FILP) bonds increased by 42.2 trillion yen from the figure for FY2020 (Initial). |
Korea | See response in Table 15. We are not expecting further issuance of Treasury Bonds within this year. |
Latvia | See response in Table 15 |
Lithuania | The government’s funding needs for 2020 increased by EUR 4.4 billion or by 9.1 per cent of 2019 GDP. |
Luxembourg | Luxembourg DMO got an additional lending authorization from Parliament for 3.000 million EUR for 2020, which is 4.7% from 2019 GDP. |
Mexico | The Federal Government has executed a set of measures to mitigate the economic effects of COVID-19. Despite the implementation of these fiscal measures, the Federal Government has announced that the amount of debt placement for 2020 will be under the limit permitted by the Federal Revenue Law 2020. |
Netherlands | As of September 2020 the estimate of the size of the fiscal stimulus package in reaction to the corona crisis was € 45.9 bn worth of additional expenditures and € 16.6 bn worth of income loss (tax and other fiscal incentives). In addition there have been € 60.9 bn worth of guarantees but that does not directly impact the borrowing need. |
New Zealand | In June 2020, the 2020 fiscal year borrowing program was increased to $29 billion, up from $10 billion forecast in December 2019. |
Norway | Fiscal policy responses are financed by transfers from the Government Pension Fund Global and therefore do not trigger any borrowing requirement. |
Poland | The central government gross borrowing needs for 2020 increased from PLN 141.7 bn to PLN 234.7 bn, i.e. by PLN 93.0 bn (4.1% of 2019 GDP). |
Portugal | In 2020, the Net Financing needs, reached 16.8 billion euros, falling below the Government’s estimate when the Supplementary Budget was presented in June (20.3 billion euros). The impact on governments borrowing needs was sizeable, 7.2 billion euros, considering the initial budget projection for 2020 (9.6 billion euros). |
Slovak Republic | Around 2 billion euro are fiscal measures. |
Slovenia | Out of EUR 7.2 bn funding need for the execution of the 2020 central budget EUR 2.1 bn is estimated to be the impact of the fiscal response to COVID-19 in 2020 (additional budget expenditures this year related to the measures for the mitigation of the pandemic). |
Spain | The estimates of the impact of fiscal policy have already been taken into account in the revised borrowing needs mentioned in a previous question. The net funding needs planned for 2020 increase by close to €75bn, from €32,5bn to €109,9bn. |
Switzerland | Thanks to the large liquidity buffer at the beginning of the year, the outstanding marketable debt will increase by only a relatively small amount (around 5-10 billion CHF), 1 per cent of Swiss GDP). |
United Kingdom | Also see response in Table 15. Final plans of £485.5 billion of gilt sales in 2020-21 are £329.4 billion higher than initial plans for the financial year. |
United States | Nearly all of the increase in borrowing over FY2020 has been related to the fiscal response: e.g., the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. |
Table A.18. Q10 Have you adapted your funding strategies and operations in response to the pandemic, specifically related to instruments. | ||||||||
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Temporary strategy changes | More permanent longer term strategy | |||||||
Issuance of securities across the yield curve | Issuance of money market instruments compared to issuance of long-term bonds | Introducing new maturity lines | Issuing new types of securities (e.g. FRNs, Green bonds, Linkers) | Issuance of securities across the yield curve | Issuance of money market instruments compared to issuance of long-term bonds | Introducing new maturity lines | Issuing new types of securities (e.g. FRNs, Green bonds, Linkers) | |
Australia | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Austria | Higher | Higher | No | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Belgium | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | Higher | Higher | No | Yes |
Canada | Higher | Higher | No | No | Undecided | Undecided | No | No |
Colombia | No change | No change | No | No | No change | No change | Yes | No |
Czech Republic | No change | Higher | Yes | No | No change | Lower | No | No |
Denmark | No change | Higher | No | Yes | No change | No change | No | n.a. |
Estonia | No change | n.a. | No | n.a. | Higher | n.a. | Yes | n.a. |
Finland | No change | Higher | Yes | n.a. | No change | No change | Yes | n.a. |
France | No change | Higher | Yes | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Germany | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Greece | Higher | No change | n.a. | No | Higher | Lower | Yes | No |
Hungary | Higher | Lower | Yes | Yes | Lower | Lower | Yes | Yes |
Iceland | Higher | Higher | Yes | Yes | Higher | Yes | Yes | |
Ireland | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | ||||
Israel | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Italy | No change | Higher | Yes | Yes | No change | No change | Yes | Yes |
Japan | Higher | Higher | No | No | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Korea | Higher | n.a. | No | No | Higher | n.a. | No | No |
Latvia | Higher | No change | Yes | No | No change | No change | ||
Lithuania | Lower | No change | No | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Luxembourg | n.a. | Higher | Yes | Yes | n.a. | No change | n.a. | No |
Mexico | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Netherlands | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
New Zealand | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | Higher | No change | Yes | No |
Norway | Higher | Higher | No | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Poland | Higher | Higher | No | No | Higher | No change | No | No |
Portugal | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | Higher | No change | Yes | Yes |
Slovak Republic | No change | Higher | Yes | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Slovenia | Lower | No change | No | No | No change | No change | Yes | Yes |
Spain | Higher | Higher | Yes | No | Higher | Lower | Yes | Yes |
Sweden | Higher | Higher | Yes | Yes | Higher | Higher | No | No |
Switzerland | No change | Higher | No | No | No change | No change | No | No |
Turkey | Lower | Higher | No | No | No change | No change | No | No |
United Kingdom | No change | No change | Yes | No | No change | No change | n.a. | No |
United States | Higher | Higher | Yes | |||||
Total: Higher | 21 | 27 | 11 | 2 | ||||
Total: Lower | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||
Total: No change | 10 | 6 | 19 | 22 | ||||
Total: Yes | 21 | 6 | 12 | 7 | ||||
Total: No | 13 | 27 | 18 | 21 | ||||
Table A.19. Q10 Have you adapted your funding strategies and operations in response to the pandemic, specifically related to auctions. | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temporary strategy changes | More permanent longer term strategy | |||||
Auction calendar | Frequency of auctions | Post-auction option facility (non-competitive bids) | Auction calendar | Frequency of auctions | Post-auction option facility (non-competitive bids) | |
Australia | No | Higher | n.a. | No | No change | n.a. |
Austria | No | No change | No change | No | No change | No change |
Belgium | Yes | Higher | No change | Yes | No change | No change |
Canada | Yes | Higher | n.a. | Yes | Undecided | n.a. |
Colombia | Yes | No change | No change | No | No change | No change |
Czech Republic | Yes | Higher | No change | No | Higher | No change |
Denmark | No | No change | n.a. | No | No change | n.a. |
Estonia | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | Higher | Higher |
Finland | n.a. | Higher | n.a. | n.a. | Higher | n.a. |
France | No | Higher | No change | No | No change | No change |
Germany | Yes | Higher | n.a. | No | No change | n.a. |
Greece | No | No change | n.a. | No | No change | n.a. |
Hungary | Yes | Higher | No change | No | No change | No change |
Iceland | No | Higher | No change | No | No change | No change |
Ireland | No | No change | No change | |||
Israel | No | No change | No change | No | No change | No change |
Italy | No | No change | Higher | No | No change | Higher |
Japan | Yes | Higher | No change | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Korea | No | No change | Higher | No | No change | No change |
Latvia | Yes | Higher | Lower | No | Higher | Higher |
Lithuania | Yes | No change | No change | Yes | No change | No change |
Luxembourg | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
Mexico | Yes | No change | No change | No | No change | Lower |
Netherlands | Yes | Higher | No change | n.a. | n.a. | No change |
New Zealand | Yes | Higher | n.a. | Yes | Higher | n.a. |
Norway | Yes | Higher | n.a. | No | No change | n.a. |
Poland | No | No change | No change | No | No change | No change |
Portugal | No | Higher | No change | No | Higher | No change |
Slovak Republic | Yes | Higher | No change | No | No change | No change |
Slovenia | Yes | No change | No change | Yes | No change | No change |
Spain | No | No change | Higher | No | No change | Higher |
Sweden | Yes | Higher | No change | Yes | Higher | No change |
Switzerland | No | No change | n.a. | No | No change | n.a. |
Turkey | Yes | Higher | No change | No | No change | No change |
United Kingdom | Yes | Higher | Higher | No | No change | Higher |
United States | Higher | |||||
Total: Higher | 20 | 4 | 7 | 5 | ||
Total: Lower | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Total: No change | 14 | 19 | 23 | 17 | ||
Total: Yes | 18 | 6 | ||||
Total: No | 14 | 23 | ||||
Table A.20. Q10 Have you adapted your funding strategies and operations in response to the pandemic, specifically related to other issuance techniques. | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temporary strategy changes | More permanent longer term strategy | |||||||
Use of syndications | Use of private placements | Others (e.g. use of repo markets for funding, changes in currency composition etc. | others specified: | Use of syndications | Use of private placements | Others (e.g. use of repo markets for funding, changes in currency composition etc. | others specified: | |
Australia | Higher | n.a. | n.a. | No change | n.a. | n.a. | ||
Austria | Higher | Higher | No change | No change | ||||
Belgium | Higher | Lower | No change | Higher | ||||
Canada | No change | No change | n.a. | No change | No change | n.a. | ||
Colombia | No change | No change | n.a. | currency composition | Higher | No change | Higher | currency composition |
Czech Republic | No change | n.a. | No change | n.a. | ||||
Denmark | No change | n.a. | No change | No change | n.a. | No change | ||
Estonia | No change | No change | No change | Higher | Higher | No change | ||
Finland | Higher | Higher | n.a. | Higher | No change | n.a. | ||
France | Higher | No change | No change | No change | No change | Higher | ||
Germany | Higher | n.a. | Higher | No change | n.a. | No change | ||
Greece | Higher | n.a. | Higher | n.a. | ||||
Hungary | Higher | n.a. | No change | Lower | n.a. | No change | ||
Iceland | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Ireland | Higher | Higher | No change | |||||
Israel | Higher | Higher | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Italy | Higher | Higher | No change | Higher | No change | No change | ||
Japan | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | ||
Korea | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Latvia | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Lithuania | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Luxembourg | No change | Lower | n.a. | No change | Lower | n.a. | ||
Mexico | No change | n.a. | n.a. | No change | n.a. | n.a. | ||
Netherlands | No change | No change | Higher | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | ||
New Zealand | Higher | n.a. | Higher | ECP issuance | Higher | n.a. | Higher | ECP issuance |
Norway | Higher | n.a. | No change | No change | n.a. | No change | ||
Poland | No change | Higher | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Portugal | Higher | No change | n.a. | No change | No change | n.a. | ||
Slovak Republic | Higher | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Slovenia | No change | Higher | n.a. | No change | No change | n.a. | ||
Spain | Higher | No change | No change | Higher | No change | No change | ||
Sweden | Higher | No change | No change | No change | No change | No change | ||
Switzerland | n.a. | n.a. | No change | n.a. | n.a. | No change | ||
Turkey | No change | Higher | No change | |||||
United Kingdom | Higher | n.a. | n.a. | No change | n.a. | n.a. | ||
Total: Higher | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 4 | ||
Total: Lower | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
Total: No change | 15 | 13 | 17 | 23 | 17 | 16 | ||
Table A.21. Q10 Have you adapted your funding strategies and operations in response to the pandemic – Country notes | |
---|---|
Estonia | Borrowing strategy document was introduced in 2020 and is updated regularly. |
France | We will contemplate the possibility to set-up of a repo facility in the coming months. We slightly increased the frequency of auctions in 2020 by adding one auction mid-August. |
Germany | The issuance of green securities in 2020 was already planned before the beginning of the pandemic. |
Italy | For additional details please refer to the answer to the question n° 1b. |
Lithuania | Usually our bond maturity in auctions varies from 3 to 12 years, but the first auction after the quarantine announcement was less successful, so we had to shorten our bond maturities in auctions from 1 to 4 years after that. |
Mexico | In order to foster an orderly functioning of financial markets and provide liquidity for the development of domestic markets, in April two modifications were implemented to the Market Makers Program: On the second business day after the primary auction takes place, market makers may buy up to an additional 25% of the amount placed in the primary auction. Exclusive liability management operations for those financial institutions that act as Market Makers. Additionally, the securities auction calendar was also modified to respond to changes in investors demand as well as to ensure competitive financing rates. |
New Zealand | We have made no changes to the frequency of bond auctions, however, multiple bonds are now issued per tender and T-Bill tenders are now weekly rather than fortnightly. |
Norway | In response to the increased borrowing requirement, we increased the number of auctions and the issuance volume. The new 10-year bond was reopened through a syndication in May. Existing securities are normally reopened through uniform price auctions, but under the prevailing circumstances a syndicated reopening was more appropriate as it gave us more flexibility in terms of the volume borrowed and time of implementation. |
Portugal | IGCP runs a regular and predictable funding program by executing one PGB transaction per month: via one auction (preferably using the first available window in the calendar, i.e. the 2nd Wednesday) or one syndication. In April and July, IGCP carried out two transactions: one syndication and one auction (using the unusual second window, i.e. the 4th Wednesday). Also in April, the syndicated amount was EUR 1 bn higher compared with the benchmark size. IGCP run an auction in August (regarding the liquidity in the summer period, it’s an unusual window to run an auction), using the second window, i.e. the 4th Wednesday. |
Spain | An important change is the issue of bonds with new maturity profiles, such as the new 7-year bond which was issued through a syndication process. This specific maturity met investor demand in a very positive way and was replicated by many other countries. |
Switzerland | There was and is no reason to fundamentally adjust our previous approach. It has been shown that we can react quickly to increasing funding needs without introducing new instruments. Therefore, no new instruments or techniques were introduced and there are no plans to do so in the near future. There was an increased use of existing instruments (own tranches) and a higher than usual share of money market instruments compared to capital market instruments. |
United Kingdom | The changes to the UK DMO’s gilt sales procedures are described above (table 1b). Within our syndication programme we sold 10-year and 15-year maturities (2030 and 2035) for the first time (previously syndications had been used exclusively to sell longer maturities. This led to record amounts being raised via syndication (£12 billion in the case of the 2030 gilt sale in May 2020) and £41.6 billion in five transactions in the financial year to-date. |
United States | The majority of the increase in debt issuance over the past several months has occurred in our regular benchmark T-bill offerings (4-, 8-, 13-, 26-, and 52-week tenors) as well as a “regular” program of cash management bills (6-, 15-, 17-, and 22-week tenors). However, in May and again in August, we announced substantial monthly increases in auction sizes across all tenors (including floating rate notes (FRNs)) and introduced a new 20-year nominal coupon bond. We have not increased the auction sizes for our TIPS offerings. Last year, we made significant adjustments to the TIPS offerings and at the time signalled that we did not intend to make additional changes in the near-term. |
Table A.22. Q11 Do you have a liquidity buffer? | |||
---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | Have there been any changes in the last 12 months in terms of your liquidity buffer practice? | |
Australia | X | Generally the AOFM endeavours to hold a minimum of around 4 weeks of net government outlays and debt refinancing requirements across the year. While this standard has not changed, the dollar value of the buffer has increased given the material increase in Government expenditures arising from the pandemic response and the broader based decline in economic activity. | |
Austria | X | In the past Austria did not have a liquidity buffer. This changed in mid-March 2020 due to the uncertainties around the exact cash flows surrounding the Austrian government corona package. | |
Belgium | X | We typically do not hold a formal liquidity buffer. However, since the start of the pandemic liquidity was built up and held for further unexpected costs. | |
Canada | X | There have been no changes to the liquidity buffer practice since the announcement of the Prudential Liquidity Management plan in the March 2011 Federal Budget. Please refer to: https://www.budget.gc.ca/2011/plan/anx2-eng.html. The liquidity plan is composed of government deposits held with financial institutions and the Bank of Canada, as well as the liquid foreign exchange reserves and are managed to provide one month's worth of coverage. Government cash balances in 2020 are running significantly higher than in comparison to 2019, largely as a result of anticipation of large funding requirements for COVID-19 programs that were announced by the Government of Canada in the first half of 2020. The Government increased the frequency (weekly from bi-weekly) and size (up to $35 bn) of treasury bill auctions in H1 2020 and ramped up bond issuances to $409 billion for 2020-21 fiscal-year, $283 billion higher than the previous fiscal year. This has resulted in larger cash balances than were previously carried in 2019. | |
Colombia | X | Despite the unprecedented challenges of the Pandemic, the Colombian Government did not require major changes in its liquidity buffer practices because it was able to secure additional new funds. | |
Czech Republic | X | Since March 2020 (pandemic outbreak in Czech republic and Europe) liquidity buffer was immediately and distinctively boosted through T-bills issuance and also higher issuance of T-bonds (long-term government bonds) reinforced liquidity position of state treasury. | |
Denmark | X | The government's liquidity buffer has increased since the end of March 2020, as funding has exceeded the realized financing requirement in this period. | |
Estonia | X | There have been no changes in our liquidity buffer requirements. Liquidity was increased by the DMO due to the uncertainty of cash-flow connected to COVID-19 crisis. | |
Finland | X | Larger buffer | |
France | X | We increased our cash buffer during the crisis. | |
Germany | X | ||
Greece | X | ||
Hungary | X | The targeted optimal liquidity buffer level was raised in April and since then the Hungarian Debt Management Office stopped cash placements in the market via repos. | |
Iceland | X | Higher funding need, due to COVID-19 pandemic, has caused change in funding strategy and more emphasis has been placed on issuing short term notes, like T-bills. By doing so, the liquidity buffer is more sound. | |
Ireland | X | No | |
Israel | X | We are investigating the need to increase the liquidity buffer. | |
Italy | X | In the last 12 months, the Italian Treasury increased its cash balances to face potential liquidity requirements related to the new macroeconomic context. | |
Japan | X | The fund balance on the Government Debt Consolidation Fund (GDCF) has decreased by reducing the amount of front-loading issuance of Refunding Bonds according to the two revisions of the issuance plan for FY 2020. | |
Korea | X | ||
Latvia | X | Increased liquidity buffer was maintained due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) additional funding needs. | |
Lithuania | X | The amounts have increased but the increase was very much in line with the increase in expenditure. | |
Luxembourg | X | No | |
Mexico | X | Considering the volatility in debt markets the Treasury is taking a close follow-up of the evolution of cash balances to take the necessary action if needed. | |
Netherlands | X | Temporary increase in the possibility to hold cash at the Dutch central bank. | |
New Zealand | X | With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, NZDM identified that the current liquidity buffer requirements may have been too low to sufficiently mitigate risks in the current environment. The decision was made to increase the level of high quality liquid financial assets substantially, over and above the minimum compliance requirements, along with NZDM also holding significantly more cash. All of which were funded through a combination of increased Government bond, T-Bill, and ECP issuance. In addition to the above, the limit on the overdraft facility with the Central Bank (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) was temporarily increased (it has now reverted to its original size). | |
Norway | X | No special changes in connection with COVID-19. | |
Poland | X | Due to extraordinary budget and market uncertainty the level of cash buffer was increased. | |
Portugal | X | No major changes | |
Slovak Republic | X | Higher buffer due to uncertainty in budget deficit development. The actual development is better than scenarios in early stages of the pandemic which leads to higher buffer because of strong issuance in spring. | |
Slovenia | X | Due to uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic we decided to temporarily increase the cash buffer although not to a large extent, as the markets remained constructive even during the height of the pandemic in March 2020. The increase is not only related to the unexpected additional expenditures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 but also due to higher funding needs in the beginning of 2021 resulting from the repayment of principals falling due in January and April. | |
Spain | X | We have increased our liquidity buffer due to the uncertainty with future borrowing needs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
Sweden | X | ||
Switzerland | X | The liquidity buffer has grown steadily over the last 5 years (since the introduction of negative interest rates by the Swiss National Bank in 2015). Before the onset of the pandemic, the liquidity buffer was forecasted to reach a peak of more than 40 billion CHF in the summer months and remain constantly above 25 billion CHF for the whole year. This amount would have corresponded to around one third of the budget of the federal administration and more than 3 per cent of Swiss GDP. Thanks to this high liquidity buffer, the Treasury had sufficient time to adapt the issuance strategy and increase the issuance activity slowly and without causing additional market stress. | |
Turkey | X | Keeping a strong level of cash reserve in order to reduce the liquidity risk associated with cash and debt management is one the main pillars of our borrowing strategy. | |
United Kingdom | X | Not applicable. | |
United States | X | The U.S. Treasury’s cash balance policy was implemented in 2015 and its objective --- to cover anticipated outflows in case of a temporary interruption of market access --- has not changed. Recent record-high cash balances are driven by several factors, including the unprecedented size and ongoing uncertainty regarding the timing of COVID-19 related outlays. The U.S. Treasury also seeks to change auction sizes gradually to minimize any potential market disruption. Informed by its risk management objectives, the U.S. Treasury has taken a precautionary approach to projecting outflows. Accordingly, Treasury’s cash balance may remain elevated by historical standards until the uncertainty regarding potential outflows diminishes. | |
Total | 32 | 4 |
Table A.23. Q12 Please indicate areas of key lessons learned so far from the COVID-19 crisis. | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The need to hold excess cash balances as a buffer | Need to maintain short-term funding market (T-Bills, repos) | Having different borrowing methods | Established communication with investors | Yield curve extension | Others | |
Australia | X | X | X | X | X | |
Austria | X | X | X | |||
Belgium | X | X | X | |||
Canada | X | X | X | |||
Colombia | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Czech Republic | X | X | X | |||
Denmark | X | X | ||||
Estonia | X | X | X | X | ||
Finland | X | X | ||||
France | X | X | X | X | X | |
Germany | X | X | X | |||
Greece | X | X | X | X | X | |
Hungary | X | X | X | |||
Iceland | X | X | X | |||
Ireland | X | X | X | |||
Israel | X | X | X | |||
Italy | X | X | ||||
Japan | X | X | ||||
Korea | X | X | X | |||
Latvia | X | X | X | |||
Lithuania | ||||||
Luxembourg | X | X | ||||
Mexico | X | X | ||||
Netherlands | X | |||||
New Zealand | X | X | X | |||
Norway | X | X | ||||
Poland | X | X | X | |||
Portugal | X | X | X | X | ||
Slovak Republic | X | X | X | X | ||
Slovenia | X | X | X | X | X | |
Spain | X | X | X | |||
Sweden | X | X | * | |||
Switzerland | X | X | X | |||
Turkey | X | X | X | X | ||
United Kingdom | X | X | X | |||
United States | X | X | ||||
Total | 23 | 26 | 22 | 19 | 12 | 7 |
Table A.24. Q12 Specified OTHER areas of key lessons learned so far from the COVID-19 crisis | |
---|---|
Colombia | The COVID-19 crisis had a highly uncertain impact on the Colombian Government’s income, which made cash management and forecasting during 2020 much more difficult. The Colombian Government has accelerated its plans to improve its cash management and forecasting processes and information systems. |
Denmark | Maintain market access in less frequently used borrowing programmes. |
France | Organizational adaptation to allow more remote working. |
Latvia | Available funding from international financial institutions complimentary to the core funding. |
Portugal | Adaption of a business continuity/recovery plan. |
Slovak Republic | Established formal communication with central bank. |
Spain | Maintain liquidity throughout the curve |
Sweden | * These lessons we selected are not new to us. Have been in our contingency plan for a long time. |
Table A.25. Q13 Potential implications of the pandemic for future debt management | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boost or establish a cash buffer | Review of primary dealership systems | Issuance of new securities | Review of communication with Central Banks as major investors | Adaption of a business continuity or recovery plan | More emphasis on investor relations | Lengthen average maturity | Reassess issuance techniques | Others | |
Australia | X | X | X | X | |||||
Austria | X | X | |||||||
Belgium | X | X | |||||||
Canada | X | X | X | ||||||
Colombia | X | X | X | ||||||
Czech Republic | X | X | X | X | |||||
Denmark | X | X | X | ||||||
Estonia | X | X | X | X | |||||
Finland | |||||||||
France | X | X | |||||||
Germany | X | ||||||||
Greece | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Hungary | X | X | X | X | |||||
Iceland | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Ireland | X | X | |||||||
Israel | X | X | |||||||
Italy | X | X | X | ||||||
Japan | X | X | |||||||
Korea | X | X | X | X | |||||
Latvia | X | X | X | ||||||
Lithuania | X | X | X | ||||||
Luxembourg | X | ||||||||
Mexico | X | X | |||||||
Netherlands | X | X | |||||||
New Zealand | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Norway | |||||||||
Poland | X | X | X | ||||||
Portugal | X | X | X | ||||||
Slovak Republic | X | X | |||||||
Slovenia | X | X | |||||||
Spain | X | X | X | X | |||||
Sweden | X | X | X | ||||||
Switzerland | X | ||||||||
Turkey | |||||||||
United Kingdom | X | X | X | ||||||
United States | X | X | X | ||||||
Total | 14 | 6 | 15 | 6 | 21 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 2 |
Table A.26. Q13 Specified OTHER implications of the pandemic for future debt management | |
---|---|
Canada | (i): Manage maturity structure of debt issuance and growing share of money market instruments (treasury bills). (ii):Assess whether the debt issuance mix used to raise funding during the pandemic should be modified or rebalanced. (iii): With this Debt Management Strategy, the government intends to issue a historic level of long-term bonds to manage the significant increase in debt resulting from the response to COVID-19. In light of the unique situation posed by the COVID-19 crisis, the government will continue to review the Debt Management Strategy for opportunities to borrow at longer maturities and lock in historically low interest rates, as well as enhance the predictability of debt servicing costs. |
Denmark | More frequent issuance in less frequently used funding programmes to maintain market access. |
Table A.27. Q13 Potential implications of the pandemic for future debt management – Country Notes | |
---|---|
Australia | Cash buffers are likely to be higher in the future. Operational lessons learned from the pandemic will be incorporated into business continuity (BC) planning. The wisdom of having extended the yield curve and lengthened the average term of the portfolio in the years prior to the pandemic has been demonstrated over the past 9 months (i.e. lower debt refinancing task, more diversity in investor base and more points on the yield curve to fund from). Maintaining investor relation activities remains integral to AOFM operations – it just has to be done differently while the pandemic persists and capacity to travel and meet investors face to face remains constrained. |
Belgium | We will continue to remain very flexible in the choice of bonds to be auctioned and we maintain our short term and EMTN programs. |
Canada | Canada is in the early onset stage of the pandemic as the impact began to be felt around mid-March. There could be additional potential implications of the pandemic for future debt management practices that are more well understood in the months to come. |
Denmark | With the prospect of an expected higher financing requirement in the coming years, there is room to introduce new securities and/or additional maturity segments. |
Japan | Comments on “Adaption of a business continuity/recovery plan”; We reaffirm the importance of developing the business environment where operations can be conducted remotely, based on the experience of the pandemic. Comments on “Lengthening average maturity”; We think that average maturity adjustment will be essential in the future, since the amount in short–term zone has rapidly increased due to the changes in JGB issuance plan FY2020 (the first and the second supplementary budget) in which the flow-basis average maturity has shortened from 9 years 3 months to 6 years 8 months. |
Latvia | The spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2020 has increased market volatility and funding needs in general. Since April we use competitive multi-price auctions only in domestic market. |
Norway | The pandemic underlines the need of maintaining a market in the various maturity segments in normal times enabling us to increase borrowing on short notice when the need arises. This requires flexibility in the use of instruments and sales methods. In addition, it is important to be as transparent as possible, in order to reduce uncertainty among investors. |
Portugal | Portugal has been running cash reserves in excess of 40% of its gross funding needs for some years and during this crisis this instrument allowed IGCP to better time coming to the market and bought some time to better understand the size of the additional funding needs. |
Spain | Due to the strong resilience shown by the Spanish Debt Market, we will continue to improvements we have already been doing, such as diversifying our issuance with green bonds, increasing contact with investors and lengthening average maturity to reduce refinancing risk. |
Switzerland | The issuance procedures and techniques in place have proven to be adequate and flexible enough and the existing cash buffer was sufficient. Therefore, there is no need to add new instruments or fundamentally change the issuance process or the liquidity management. One point that may be reviewed is the regularity of communication with market participants in times of high uncertainty and the resulting trade-off between flexibility and planning certainty. |
Turkey | Due to pandemic effects, borrowing needs has increased which has pushed Treasury to preserve investor base. This led Treasury to research on facilitating the terms of obligations in primary dealership system. In order to have smooth redemption profile, we also increase the average maturity of domestic debt. |
United Kingdom | The UK DMO’s debt management strategy has to-date proved very resilient to the challenges posed by the pandemic, both in terms of the greatly expanded financing programme and the rapid transition to remote working for the great majority of staff at the UK DMO. There are no particular pandemic driven implications to highlight at this stage. As ever, however, the UK DMO remains open to the introduction of new debt financing instruments but would need to be satisfied that any new instrument would meet value for money criteria, enjoy strong and sustained demand in the long-term and be consistent with the wider fiscal objectives of government. The UK DMO notes that the gilt market is much deeper and more liquid than it was a decade ago. It has an efficient price discovery mechanism and a good track record in responding smoothly to increases in gilt supply as well as absorbing relatively rapidly new relevant information. For BCP see below. |
United States | On May 22, Treasury issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking feedback from market participants on the likely demand for and the ideal structure of potential Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR)-indexed Treasury FRN issuance. At this time, no decision has been made with regard to issuing such a product. |
Table A.28. Q14 Do you have a full business continuity and disaster/incidence recovery plan for the DMO? If yes, how often does this plan get reviewed/revised | |||
---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | How often does this plan get reviewed/revised | |
Australia | X | This Business Resiliency Framework is reviewed annually. | |
Austria | X | A disaster recovery facility and an appropriate plan is in place. In case of a disaster, where the primary facility is devastated, the recovery plan steps in. Designated employees attend the recovery facility and continue working from that place. Data is permanently synchronized with external facilities, and regular backups are done offsite. The technical disaster recovery procedure is exercised quarterly to prove that all redundancy systems are completely usable in case of an emergency. After a case of disaster strikes, the disaster recovery facility is up and running in less than a day. Furthermore, there is a crisis communication plan in place to address public interest accordingly. | |
Belgium | X | On a regular basis and especially when special events are occurring. | |
Canada | X | Business continuity experiences: Strong business continuity and resiliency of operations was already a strong component of Canada’s public debt management practices prior to COVID-19. Split operations are currently conducted from three different business sites and critical staff are physically present at these locations. Non-critical staff are able to continue conducting policy, research and other work functions by working remotely and technical equipment has worked well to facilitate timely communication, collaboration, and to be able to conduct important governance/decision-making meetings amongst senior management. Lessons learned: One key lesson learned during this period is the value of conducting table-top exercises. Many new operations and facilities have been introduced since mid-March in order to provide financial system support to the Canadian economy. Multiple table-top exercises were carried out before the introduction or implementation of these programs/operations and they have been valuable in helping with the coordination of key decisions, testing various scenarios and ensuring both resilience and readiness of operations. Business continuity, continuity of operations plans, and disaster/incidence recover plans are reviewed on a frequent basis. Typically every 1-3 years these plans are reviewed and updated/revised as needed. Both the Bank of Canada and the Department of Finance Canada (Government of Canada) have plans with respect to business continuity and disaster planning incident responses. | |
Colombia | X | It is reviewed annually. | |
Czech Republic | X | DMO is part of Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and in the case of disaster/incidence will follow recovery plan, which is designed by the Ministry and approved by its management. The plan gets reviewed as necessary. | |
Denmark | X | Operational and Informational Risks Management (ORM/IRM's) are reviewed multiple times per year. Monthly follow-up on incidents etc. | |
Estonia | X | The plan is reviewed once in two years. | |
Finland | X | Annually | |
France | X | It is revised every year. | |
Germany | X | At the minimum annually. | |
Greece | X | Annually | |
Hungary | X | Annually | |
Iceland | X | ||
Ireland | X | Annually | |
Israel | X | Once a year | |
Italy | X | The DMO relies on the Treasury Department Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, based on an Active/Active Data Centres architecture. The Data Centres are physically located in two different sites more than 10 km away. Load balancers are used to split the workload and synchronous replication is adopted to maintain data alignment between the two Data Centres. Further, a local tape backup is performed on a daily basis to provide a recovery point in case of a severe out-of-service affecting both the Data Centres. The plan is reviewed yearly. | |
Japan | X | It is reviewed as necessary. | |
Korea | X | Annually, and if it is necessary. | |
Latvia | X | The plan is reviewed annually. | |
Lithuania | X | We have a recovery plan at the level of Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania. As a DMO, we only have process descriptions that we update every 6 months. | |
Luxembourg | X | As often as required. | |
Mexico | X | The business continuity plan of Mexico DMO includes continuing with the main operations of the debt office (debt payments, back office, issuances, etc.) in other facilities when due to force majeure it is not possible to enter in our main facilities. | |
Netherlands | X | However, we are in the process of setting up a business continuity plan | |
New Zealand | X | It had been under review prior to the pandemic with a more extensive review underway since COVID-19 | |
Norway | X | As the DMO is a unit within the central bank of Norway these plans are reviewed/revised as a part the bank’s work on operational risk management and contingency planning in general. | |
Poland | X | Emergency procedures are updated on a regular basis taking into account new types of security issues. Technical infrastructure allowing for running debt management processes from outside of the Ministry of Finance building is assured. | |
Portugal | X | IGCP have a Disaster Recovery Centre where backup of critical system are hosted and daily updated. IGCP also has a business continuity plan regarding issuance and payments (namely allowing off-site execution of auctions and all needed payments). | |
Slovak Republic | X | Yearly, or if significant change occurs. | |
Slovenia | X | The debt management function is performed by the Ministry of Finance, Treasury Directorate and disaster/incidence recovery plan for the state treasury operations is included in the Ministry’s disaster/incidence framework. The plan is revised on an annual/bi-annual basis. In 2020, The National Protection and Rescue Plan in the event of a communicable disease epidemic or pandemic in humans has been adopted. | |
Spain | X | We have multiple risk assessment revisions. We revise our overall risk plans with our yearly financing strategy plans. However, we also have monthly cashflow assessments to make sure there are no liquidity tensions on government operations. | |
Sweden | X | Yearly | |
Switzerland | X | The business continuity management (BCM) board of the federal finance administration regularly assesses the risk situation and initiates any necessary measures. It meets at least twice a year | |
Turkey | X | A full-fledged business continuity plan was prepared for the DMO in 2011. This plan is updated annually and whenever deemed necessary. Also the plan is tested every three years together with the internal and external stakeholders. | |
United Kingdom | X | We have a detailed Business Continuity Plan and a summary plan that are reviewed on a quarterly basis and updated, as necessary. The DMO maintains an operational BCP site as a standard cover facility. In February and March 2020, the DMO undertook additional steps to mitigate the risks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic including increasing cross training and allowing the majority of DMO staff to work from home. The DMO has remained fully operational. | |
United States | X | Continuously. | |
Total | 33 | 3 |
Table A.29. Q15 What are your main risk scenarios? | |
---|---|
Australia | We conduct at least an annual business continuity (BC) test, with the following scenarios tested over the last several years: (a) IT-based disruption scenario – loss of primary data centre; (b) Business operations site unavailable/key staff unavailable including (i) primary BC team available (ii) only alternate BC team available (iii) no AOFM staff available, require stand-in from Reserve Bank of Australia. Our key third-party providers (Yieldbroker: tender system; and Austraclear: clearing and settlement facility) also undertake BC testing twice per year, using the above risk scenarios. |
Austria | Main risk scenarios covered are: Illegal data access; Wiretapping during data-transmissions (“man in the middle attack”); Spying on data on network drives or databases; Manipulation, modifying systems or other cases of system interference; Denial of service attacks, mobile unauthorized software (e.g. virus, Trojans,..) |
Belgium | Network break down. System failures on our side and the market side. |
Canada | As part of business continuity planning, many risk scenarios are reviewed and these scenarios can evolve and change over time. As part of a recent playbook manual that was prepared for a table-top exercise conducted in 2018 for debt management preparedness, three broad stress scenarios where the Government’s access to funding could be jeopardized were outlined.1. Short-term operational interruption: an acute internal systems problem or idiosyncratic event that develops same-day or overnight and would typically be resolved next-day or within a week. These interruptions could range from cybersecurity/IT/systems issues to natural disasters to other forms of interruptions like a 9/11 event.2. Shock to financial requirements: a structural funding pressure due to a rapid increase in financial requirements that develops within days, weeks or months. Options to source liquidity from financial markets may be limited due to signalling concerns. 3. Confidence crisis: a persistent structural funding pressure due to insufficient demand for Government of Canada securities as a result of deterioration in market confidence and/or as a result of a potential credit downgrade. |
Colombia | Catastrophic: Events that cause considerable damage and that make it impossible to use the infrastructure, servers and databases of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. High: Impossibility of access to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit facilities, but the computer centre and servers are working. Pandemics, Mutiny, Public order situations, Absence of external services (Central bank, internet service, telephony) Medium: absence of public services (electricity, water), absence of staff for more than one day (disabilities, vacations, work commission, staff turnover). Low: Absence of staff for less than one day (committees, work tables, etc.) |
Estonia | Personnel risk; Environment risk; IT-risk; Risk of depository and credit institutions |
Finland | Cyber threats |
France | Failure of our IT systems; Professional building inaccessible. |
Germany | confidential |
Greece | In case of a prolonged lockdown a necessity to develop all required facilities to ensure and maintain business continuity. |
Hungary | The BCP focuses on disasters. Operational risk because of the pandemic’s reaching the Debt Management Office staff was managed separately |
Iceland | - Loss of main physical operating site: second site - Loss of key people: All processes are documented for DMO - Database malfunction: Proper Database administration (DBA) maintenance - Unplanned IT system or infrastructure outage: Proper IT management - Cyber attack: Security Surveillance (Qualys etc.) |
Ireland | Market Disruption, Geo-political, Economic crisis. |
Israel | Earthquake, power shut down, etc. |
Italy | • Data breach, i.e. access and disclosure of strategic information related to DMO plans from unauthorized subjects.• Data tampering, i.e. forgery of the data in order to alter the definition of the DMO strategies.• Denial of service, i.e. making the systems unavailable to block DMO operations. |
Japan | The BCP mainly assumes large scale natural disasters (e.g. the Tokyo Inland Earthquake), serious cases (e.g. cyber-terrorism, missiles), the outbreak of a new strain of influenza and the other infections, etc. |
Korea | Outflow of foreign bond holdings, Foreign investors’ sudden futures position change(long to short), Volatility in currency exchange rate, swap rate or stock price, etc. |
Latvia | Biological disaster, cyber-attack, malice, fire. |
Lithuania | The main risk scenario is operational and relates to the right to borrow a certain amount. If the assessment of risks related to additional expenditure due the obligations or demands which may or may not occur within a year is not performed very well, the risk that the Government can’t borrow enough to fulfil its obligations arises. |
Mexico | Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the main risk scenarios are natural disasters (earthquakes), manifestations, and cyber risks than can affect our work places. |
Netherlands | Operational risk (IT, systems, limitations to travel to the office, etc.) Refinancing risk Interest rate risk Credit risk |
New Zealand | Natural disaster, such as an earthquake, renders one of the main cities where staff are located unreachable for a sustained period. |
Norway | |
Poland | Lack of access to the required technical infrastructure necessary in the debt management and liquidity management processes. |
Portugal | Systems failure to process settlements and hold auctions. |
Slovak Republic | That the staff will not be able to operate from standard premises or that these premises (mostly hardware) will be destroyed. |
Slovenia | The main risk scenarios for the state treasury operations (Front office, Middle office and Back office) are specified in a detailed list within the Ministry’s risk ledger. The following main areas of risk are identified: human resources, information technology (IT) and payment systems, macroeconomic performance, state budget execution and liquidity, financial markets volatility/crisis… |
Spain | Until now, our main risk scenarios have focused on purely economic and financial risks, such as refinancing risks, tensions in global markets and energy prices. For example, in our Debt-to-GDP ratio, we have included measures for changes in External Demand, oil prices and interest rates. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, we will surely include other risks inside our plans for our DMO to set up a more comprehensive risk assessment plan. |
Sweden | Various risk scenarios |
Switzerland | The main risks from the BCM point of view include all events that make it impossible to work in the office building. These risks include for example natural disasters (e.g. fire, earthquakes) or prolonged power failures. A pandemic was already listed as a risk scenario before the outbreak of COVID-19. |
Turkey | In DMO, 6 different scenarios have been produced for 6 critical processes within Business Continuity Plan; Scenario 1: General Directorate of Public Finance offices become unavailable Scenario 2: The Information Processing Centre (IT) becomes unusable Scenario 3: Ministry building becomes unusable Scenario 4: Disruption of business continuity in co-working institutions Scenario 5: Decrease in the number of critical personnel due to unexpected situations Scenario 6: A natural disaster throughout Ankara |
United Kingdom | Major risks scenarios are those based on events which could cause major disruption to business units. One or more of the following criteria may apply: financial market disruption, office inaccessible, office unusable (e.g. power or utility failure or epidemic/pandemic), severe staff shortage (e.g. severe weather, epidemic/ pandemic)), unavailability of key suppliers, services, stakeholders etc. |
United States | Emerging threats such as cyber-attacks and other operational risks. |
Table A.30. Q16 Was a pandemic a main risk scenario before 2020? | ||
---|---|---|
Yes | No | |
Australia | X | |
Austria | X | |
Belgium | X | |
Canada | X | |
Colombia | X | |
Czech Republic | X | |
Denmark | X | |
Estonia | X | |
Finland | X | |
France | X | |
Germany | X | |
Greece | X | |
Hungary | X | |
Iceland | X | |
Ireland | X | |
Israel | X | |
Italy | X | |
Japan | X | |
Korea | X | |
Latvia | X | |
Lithuania | X | |
Luxembourg | X | |
Mexico | X | |
Netherlands | X | |
New Zealand | X | |
Norway | ||
Poland | X | |
Portugal | X | |
Slovak Republic | X | |
Slovenia | X | |
Spain | X | |
Sweden | X | |
Switzerland | X | |
Turkey | X | |
United Kingdom | X | |
United States | X | |
Total | 4 | 31 |
Table A.31. Q17 Which operations have been carried out remotely during the pandemic? | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Payments/transactions | Cash management | Syndications, private placements or some other type of funding operations | Auctions | Derivative operations | Others | |
Australia | X | X | middle office operations | |||
Austria | X | X | X | X | X | |
Belgium | X | X | X | X | X | |
Canada | ||||||
Colombia | X | X | X | X | ||
Czech Republic | X | X | X | X | ||
Denmark | X | X | X | X | X | |
Estonia | X | X | X | X | ||
Finland | X | X | X | X | ||
France | X | |||||
Germany | X | X | X | X | ||
Greece | X | X | X | |||
Hungary | X | X | X | X | ||
Iceland | X | X | X | Investor relations | ||
Ireland | X | X | ||||
Israel | X | X | X | X | X | |
Italy | X | X | X | |||
Japan | ||||||
Korea | X | X | X | |||
Latvia | X | X | X | X | Risk management, and Investor relations | |
Lithuania | X | X | X | X | ||
Luxembourg | X | X | ||||
Mexico | X | X | X | |||
Netherlands | ||||||
New Zealand | X | X | X | X | ||
Norway | X | X | X | |||
Poland | X | X | X | X | ||
Portugal | X | X | X | X | ||
Slovak Republic | X | X | X | X | ||
Slovenia | X | X | X | |||
Spain | X | X | X | X | ||
Switzerland | X | X | X | Risk control activities | ||
Turkey | X | X | X | X | X | |
United Kingdom | X | X | X | X | ||
United States | X | X | X | |||
Total | 27 | 30 | 22 | 27 | 9 | 5 |
Table A.32. Q17 Which operations have been carried out remotely during the pandemic? Country notes | |
---|---|
Canada | Strong business continuity and resiliency of operations was already a strong component of Canada’s public debt management practices prior to COVID-19. Split operations are currently conducted from three different business sites and critical staff are physically present at these locations. Operations have not been conducted remotely during the pandemic. |
Estonia | Remote working was allowed already before the pandemic as an option once or twice a week. Entire DMO started working and carrying all operations out remotely during the pandemic. Signing documents digitally is business as usual in Estonia but not widespread and accepted throughout Europe. It was challenging to figure out how to sign international contracts. |
France | We could have executed remotely other kind operations but preferred not to do so. |
Hungary | In case of payments/transactions: the actual payments had to be done on site, but the transaction recording and the processing in the internal IT system could be done remotely. |
Ireland | Transactions and payments are mainly carried out on-site. However support for these operations is undertaken remotely. We completed our March T-Bill auction remotely. We also transact some FX trades and cash management activities remotely but trading activity is mostly transacted from the office. This is similar for auctions and syndications, which are primarily run from the office but with half of the team working remotely and able to fully participate. |
Japan | We have conducted the operations regarding auctions at the office, where the Bank of Japan Financial Network System (BOJ-NET) (*) terminal is installed, because those operations can only be conducted through the BOJ-NET. It has employed an independent network which is not accessible from the internet due to the security reason. Other works, including research and information provision, were conducted remotely. (*) From the Bank of Japan website : “The Bank of Japan Financial Network System (BOJ-NET) is a computer network operated by the Bank, which was established with the aim of efficiently and safely executing online funds transfers and JGB settlements between the Bank and financial institutions that conduct transactions with the Bank.” |
Netherlands | We have continued to conduct operations on site, although with less people and in team shifts. |
Norway | The DMO is equipped with laptops with the necessary software and IT-security meaning that all types of operations cab be carried out remotely. |
Slovak Republic | All marked operations were successfully tested to be carried out solely remotely but were conducted partially from office and partially remotely. |
Spain | During the lock-down phase in the Spanish economy we were forced to carry out many operations remotely. Thankfully, all of our procedures adapted well to remote work, which allowed us to carry out auctions, cash management and our first remote-syndication without problems. |
Switzerland | In the first phase of remote working the teams were split, alternating one part of the teams was working from home and the other part in the office. After the guidelines were tightened, there was only 1 person per team (Front and Back Office, Risk) working in the office. After the guidelines were loosened again, we returned to split teams. With this setup, the functioning of all operations could be guaranteed at any time. |
Turkey | Although pandemic was not our one of main risk scenarios we added it as a sub-scenario under the “Scenario 5: Decrease in the number of critical personnel due to unexpected situations”. In this scenario in the case of travel/commuting restrictions or bans because of the pandemic, staff who are required to be in the office, procedures to let them commute and staff who can work remotely is determined. So, in the beginning period of pandemic in Turkey, we worked remotely and conducted all operations of auctions and direct sales out of office. |
United States | Forecasting and policy development continue remotely, as well. |
Table A.33. Q18 Cyber risk changes as a result of COVID-19 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Do you observe a change in cyber risk that your organisation faces as a result of COVID-19? | If yes, have you improved your cyber security measures? | |||
Yes | No | Yes | No | |
Australia | X | X | ||
Austria | X | X | ||
Belgium | X | X | ||
Canada | X | X | ||
Colombia | X | X | ||
Czech Republic | X | |||
Denmark | X | |||
Estonia | X | |||
Finland | ||||
France | X | X | ||
Germany | X | X | ||
Greece | X | |||
Hungary | X | X | ||
Iceland | X | X | ||
Ireland | X | X | ||
Israel | X | X | ||
Italy | X | X | ||
Japan | X | |||
Korea | X | X | ||
Latvia | X | X | ||
Lithuania | X | X | ||
Luxembourg | X | |||
Mexico | X | X | ||
Netherlands | X | |||
New Zealand | X | |||
Norway | ||||
Poland | X | X | ||
Portugal | X | X | ||
Slovak Republic | X | |||
Slovenia | X | X | ||
Spain | X | X | ||
Sweden | X | X | ||
Switzerland | X | |||
Turkey | X | X | ||
United Kingdom | X | X | ||
United States | X | |||
Total | 20 | 14 | 21 | 2 |
Table A.34. Q19 Do you have any plans to improve your cyber security measures managed/structured | |||
---|---|---|---|
Yes | No | Comments | |
Australia | X | The AOFM’s IT environment is managed by the Department of the Treasury. Treasury plans on increasing cyber security maturity against the Australian Government’s Essential Eight [eight essential cyber security mitigation strategies used as a baseline for cyber security posture]. Key areas of priority will be user application hardening and multi-factor authentication for systems administrator accounts. | |
Austria | X | ||
Belgium | X | Cyber security is managed on a daily basis and becoming even more important with all employees accessing the network remotely. | |
Canada | X | N/A | |
Colombia | X | ||
Czech Republic | X | ||
Denmark | X | ||
Estonia | X | The cyber security measures are improved and updated on a regular basis. | |
Finland | |||
France | X | Independent from the pandemic we regularly improve our cyber security lines of defence. | |
Germany | X | ||
Greece | X | ||
Hungary | X | ||
Iceland | X | ||
Ireland | |||
Israel | X | We are constantly reviewing and looking to improve our national cyber security readiness. | |
Italy | X | As a consequence of the “Network and Information System Security (NIS) Directive” (Directive EU 2016/1148 on security of network and information systems), cybersecurity is under the control of the CERT-MEF (Computer Emergency Response Team of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance), that is part of the Italian Public Administration (CERT) network. CERT-MEF coordinates the response to cyber incidents, mitigates the effects and prevents the occurrence of further events. Security policies are set and updated by the CERT-MEF; assessment of the compliance to the rules is performed frequently. Security policies primarily aim to avoid threats, but also to defend against attacks and to remove the consequences. Personal workstations and servers are equipped with antivirus, antimalware and anti-spam tools, among the others. The network perimeter is protected by intrusion detection and intrusion prevention systems (IDS, IPS). In the specific context of DMO operations, data are exchanged with some key actors: Bank of Italy, primary dealers, MTS SpA (secondary market) and others. Secure connections are ensured by means of several techniques, ranging from virtual private network (VPN)-like dedicated channels to Internet secure protocols (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)). | |
Japan | X | ||
Korea | X | ||
Latvia | X | ||
Lithuania | X | ||
Luxembourg | X | ||
Mexico | X | The Central Bank as the financial agent of the Federal Government is in charge of operating the auction system for government securities. | |
Netherlands | X | Working on operational risk management (cyber security and other IT related risks can be a part of that project) | |
New Zealand | X | We look to continuously improve our cyber security posture through a variety of means including additional security systems and controls as well as staff awareness and training. | |
Norway | |||
Poland | X | ||
Portugal | X | IGCP is in a reinforcement process of the firewall system and teleworking policies and also is in an implementation process of a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool and an outsourced Security Operations Centre (SOC). | |
Slovak Republic | X | Improvement of the current measures in line with overall development in this area, e.g. keeping the measures up to date with the world best practice. | |
Slovenia | For the time being the answer to question 19 cannot be provided. The Ministry of Finance is one of the governmental institutions and its cyber risk mitigation is managed centrally by other governmental entities. Currently, we have not received any information about any upcoming cyber security measures improvements. | ||
Spain | X | With view to remote work, the Spanish Treasury has increased security protocols, with new programs, double-authentication factors and other measures, to address the fact of increased cyber risk of our operations with remote working. The Spanish government is including cyber-security arrangements for all of the public sector inside its digital plans with a goal to improve overall digital infrastructure by 2025. | |
Sweden | X | The Swedish National Debt Office continuously works with improvements towards the overall security posture of the organization, due to continuous change in the threat landscape. (COVID-19 or not.) | |
Switzerland | X | ||
Turkey | X | In order to ensure minimal contact between employees we shifted to remote working. Because of this, VPN usage and consequently the cyber risks has increased. However, in order to contain those risks necessary updates and improvements have been made and as a result we didn’t experience any difficulties due to increased use of VPNs. | |
United Kingdom | X | Cyber risk is under regular review to deal with the constant changing threat. | |
United States | X | Yes, it’s a continuous process in that we’re always looking into ways to improve it. | |
Total | 25 | 7 |
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