Primary Dealer Credit Facility
Data File:
Date:
July 20, 2008
Policy Area:
Financial Sector Policy
Economic Target:
Financial Institutions
Action Type:
Loans
Maximum Amount:
$134.07 billion Overnight lending program allows primary dealers to use collateral to borrow at the Federal Reserve's "discount window." A primary dealer is a bank or securities firm that trades directly with the Federal Reserve. This lending facility gives primary dealers greater capacity to provide financing in securities markets.
On August 17, 2007, the Federal Reserve increased the maximum maturity of primary credit loans to 30 days, citing a slight deterioration in financial market conditions.
On March 16, 2008, the Federal Reserve further increased the maximum maturity to 90 days.
On November 17, 2009, the Federal reduces the maximum maturity from 90 to 28 days, noting improvements in financial markets.
As has been previously announced, the Fed closed this program on February 1, 2010, along with three other Fed lending facilities that were created in response to the economic and financial crisis: Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, Commercial Paper Funding Facility, and the Term Securities Lending Facility.
Notes:
Maximum amount is the peak cumulative cost of the facility, which occurred on October 8, 2008. Amount spent indicates outstanding loans as of 6/9/2010 (http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/). Activities of the Federal Reserve are not directly recorded in the federal budget. However, each year the Federal Reserve remits a portion of its earnings to the general treasury. This remittance is generally in the range of $20-$30 billion per year, but the CBO estimates that the Fed's earnings will be lower by approximately $90 billion over the next ten years.