Quantitative easing and the functioning of the gilt repo market

Abstract

We assess the impact of quantitative easing (QE) on the provision of liquidity and pricing in the UK gilt repo market. We compare the behaviour of banks that received reserve injections via QE operations to other similar banks in terms of the amounts lent and pricing. We also investigate whether leverage ratio capital requirements affected the amounts of liquidity supplied by broker-dealers and the spreads they charged. We find that QE interventions can improve liquidity provision and that their size determines how this is attained. QE can also reduce the cost of borrowing in the repo market unless it is associated with spikes in demand for liquidity. Our findings indicate that the leverage ratio supports the provision of liquidity during stress, as it prompts banks to become less leveraged. However, the larger capital charge repo transactions attract under the leverage ratio requirements reflects on the spreads these banks charge.