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DIRECTORATE GENERAL SECRETARIAT
Thomas O’Neill
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
22 June 2020
Reference: LS/PS/2020/20
Request for public access to ECB documents
Dear Mr O’Neill,
On 7 April 2020 the European Central Bank (ECB) received your application for access to
“documents which
contain the following information: That the ECB discloses details on all bonds it has purchased to date through
the [Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme] PEPP. This should include: 1) All the bonds purchased by
the PEPP (not the [Corporate Sector Purchase Programme] CSPP); 2) The Bonds' ISINs; 3) The total amount
of euros spent on each bond.”
You further explained that you would like the ECB to include all bonds purchased under the PEPP from March
24 to the date that this request is processed. Moreover, you mention
“that the ECB website is publishing at the
end of each week a ‘list of corporate bond securities held under the CSPP/PEPP’. However, this list: Merges
and does not distinguish between (previous & new) purchases made under the pre-existing CSPP, and those
associated with the PEPP program. It also does not disclose the number of euros spent on each corporate
bond. Therefore, it is effectively impossible to ascertain any meaningful information on how much money is
supporting which companies. Given that the ECB has 750 billion euros to spend in a short space of time
through PEPP, there is a clear public interest in greater transparency over this program”.
On 5 May 2020, in line with Article 7(3) of Decision ECB/2004/3
1 on public access to ECB documents and
owing to the increased workload, the ECB extended the stipulated time limit for reply by 20 working days.
Background information
The new temporary pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP), which includes all the asset
categories eligible under the asset purchase programmes (APP), was established on 18 March 2020.
Purchases under the PEPP, which are separate from, and in addition to, purchases carried out under the APP,
with an overall envelope of EUR 1,350 billion until the end of June 2021
2, do not pursue an investment
1 Decision ECB/2004/3 of 4 March 2004 on public access to European Central Bank documents (OJ L 80, 18.3.2004, p. 42)
2 Monetary policy decision of the ECB Governing Council of 4 June 2020, for further information please refer to the press
releas
e: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2020/html/ecb.mp200604~a307d3429c.en.html
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objective, but rather a public interest objective, namely to respond to the crisis related to the COVID-19
pandemic which the Governing Council assessed as
“a specific, extraordinary and acute economic crisis,
which could jeopardise the objective of price stability and the proper functioning of the monetary policy
transmission mechanism”.
Identification of the requested documents and assessment of disclosure
The ECB, after having carefully examined your request in line with Decision ECB/2004/3, has identified a
confidential internal database containing the requested data on the corporate sector bonds the ECB has
purchased to date under the PEPP, including the ISINs of the corporate bonds purchased and the respective
book value of the purchases.
Following a thorough assessment in line with Decision ECB/2004/3 we regret to inform you that the specific
data you are interested in cannot be provided since disclosure would undermine the interests protected under
the second indent of Article 4(1)(a)
(“the protection of public interest as regards the financial, monetary or
economic policy of the Union or a Member State”) of that Decision.
The following explanations clarify the ECB’s decision not to disclose the requested data.
Second indent of Article 4(1)(a) of Decision ECB/2004/3 – “the financial, monetary or economic policy of the
Union or a Member State”
Pursuant to the second indent of Article 4(1)(a) of Decision ECB/2004/3, the ECB shall refuse access to
documents where disclosure would undermine the protection of the public interest as regards the financial,
monetary or economic policy of the Union. As explained below, the disclosure of the requested data, first, may
seriously distort price discovery and compromise the integrity of the market and, second, may undermine the
purpose of the PEPP, creating serious risks to the monetary policy transmission mechanism and the outlook
for the euro area.
First, the disclosure of detailed, disaggregated data on the securities purchased under the PEPP in a
centralised and complete manner by the ECB would lead market participants to draw inferences about the
Eurosystem holdings and adjust their own behaviour according to assumptions established on the basis of the
information made available. This could harm the efficiency of the transmission of the PEPP to the real
economy.
Regarding your request to be able to distinguish between (previous and new) purchases made under the pre-
existing CSPP, and those associated with the PEPP programme, it is noted that the publication of the holdings
of corporate bonds (and public sector securities) takes place with the aim to facilitate market functioning via
securities lending. The holdings of corporate bonds and public sector securities resulting from purchases
under the APP and PEPP are lent out through common securities lending facilities and the separation of
holdings into multiple lists would unnecessarily increase the operational burden for prospective borrowers. In
addition, the publication of separate securities lending lists for corporate bonds held under the APP and the
PEPP may lead to unintended and unwarranted speculation, as the purchase of a corporate bond under the
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APP or the PEPP is not an expression of preference or credit quality but rather a function of internal
programme steering.
Therefore, if market participants were granted access to the requested detailed, disaggregated information
regarding the PEPP portfolios, this could introduce unwanted volatility and distortions in the market, which
may seriously distort price discovery and compromise the integrity of the market
3.
Second, the disclosure of detailed, broken down data on the securities held under the PEPP in a centralised
and complete manner by the ECB could undermine the monetary policy purpose of this programme. PEPP
purchases are intended to have a positive effect on all asset categories targeted. Since market participants
are not familiar with the individual assets preferred by the ECB and the Eurosystem national central banks
(NCBs), they will tend to invest broadly in the entire categories targeted. By contrast, if market participants
were to be granted access to detailed, broken down information this could compromise the effectiveness of
the intervention measures and, ultimately, the monetary policy pursued.
The disclosure of the requested data would create serious risks to the monetary policy transmission
mechanism and the outlook for the euro area in the face of the disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The successful implementation of the PEPP is critical in delivering the favourable financial conditions that are
necessary to support the economy, in view of the severe risks both to the monetary policy transmission
mechanism and the outlook for the euro area posed by the pandemic.
Disclosure of the requested data may lead to market fragmentation and undermine the level playing field on
which issuers and originators operate, thereby jeopardising the ECB’s aim of minimising the impact of the
implementation of the purchase programmes on the functioning of the relevant markets.
Taking into account the points made above, the ECB has concluded that the requested data cannot be
disclosed.
Other remarks
As you noted in your application, the ECB publishes under the asset purchase programmes section of the
ECB's website the book value of securities held under the PEPP on a weekly basis
4 and a list of corporate
bond securities held under the CSPP/PEPP also on a weekly basis
5, which contains information on the NCB
that holds the security, the ISIN, the issuer name, the maturity date and the coupon rate. In addition, we would
like to provide you with a comprehensive overview of other PEPP data published at the ECB website and that
might be of interest to you.
3 See
Versorgungswerk v
ECB, T-376/13, ECLI:EU:T:2015:361, paragraph 80.
4 The PEPP holdings at amortised costs on weekly basis:
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/pepp/html/index.en.html
5 S
ee https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/omt/html/index.en.html
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On a monthly basis the PEPP cumulative net purchases are published and the ECB has also started to
publish further breakdowns by asset category, country, and market type on a bi-monthly basis for the
preceding two months. The first data was released on 2 June and covered March to May 2020
6.
Furthermore, holdings of corporate bonds and public sector securities held under the PEPP are also made
available for lending and the same conditions apply for securities lending transactions under the PEPP as
under the APP. In this regard, the ECB publishes the aggregate monthly average on-loan balance of public
sector securities for the Eurosystem and the daily on-loan balances, together with breakdowns by collateral
type (securities or cash). The data is published every third Monday of the month for the previous month
7.
Finally, the ECB and the Eurosystem NCBs make available further details on their securities lending
arrangements on their respectiv
e websites.
Final remarks
For the sake of good order, we would like to inform you that, as regards the identified document Article 7(2) of
Decision ECB/2004/3 provides that “
in the event of total or partial refusal, the applicant may, within 20 working
days of receiving the ECB’s reply, make a confirmatory application asking the ECB’s Executive Board to
reconsider its position”.
Yours sincerely,
[signed]
[signed]
Petra Senkovic Margarita Louiza Karydi
Director General Secretariat Head of the Compliance and Governance Division
6 S
ee https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/pepp/html/index.en.html 7 S
ee https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/implement/omt/lending/html/index.en.html
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