Lates News

New York Fed President Williams said the transition of U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. Treasuries to central clearing is proceeding ahead of schedule. Williams said: "In response to the upcoming deadline, the industry has begun expanding the infrastructure used to clear repo and cash transactions, and related trading activity has already shifted ahead of time from the non-cleared market to the cleared market." The process requires that eligible secondary market transactionsincluding U.S. Treasuries, repurchase agreements, and reverse repurchase agreementsmust be cleared through a central counterparty. Williams reiterated that the Fed's current framework for maintaining "ample" bank reserve levels has proven "very effective" in ensuring that market interest rates remain within the Fed's federal funds rate target range and in supporting the functioning of financial markets. He said the Fed is committed to keeping the supply of bank reserves elastic.