The European Central Bank will join the European futures market repurchase market next year.

The Deutsche Brse said on Thursday that the European Central Bank will join the central clearing repo market of its European Futures Exchange in the first quarter of 2022. Currently, the European Central Bank and the central banks of the euro area countries have been lending securities to market participants. This move will transfer some of the business to centralized clearing trading, reducing counterparty risk in transactions. The repo market is a key part of the financial system, where lenders and borrowers exchange cash and collateral, mostly in overnight transactions. Since the European Central Bank raised interest rates to positive territory and began reducing its bond holdings, activity in the euro area repo market has significantly increased. The volume of outstanding trades on the Eurex platform has increased by about 50% since the end of last year. Other central banks, including the Bundesbank, are already members of the Eurex repo market.