Commission launches EU Repurchase Agreement, thereby becoming a sovereign-style issuer on EU capital markets

The Commission has launched its EU Repurchase Agreement (Repo) facility, a form of short-term issuance of EU securities available on-demand to EU primary dealers, to further strengthen the role of EU bonds and, consequently, improve the overall efficiency and fluidity of the EU bonds market.

Following EU bonds' exponential growth in the secondary market trading in recent years, the launch of the Repo facility will also make the Commission become a sovereign-style issuer on EU capital markets. 

Through the facility, the EU offers its primary dealers the possibility to source specific EU bonds on a temporary basis, supporting their capacity to post firm public quotes. The facility allows investors to be more confident in the terms on which they can trade EU bonds in the secondary market.

The first EU repo transactions will be executed today on the Eurex Repo web-based trading system and will be cleared via Eurex Clearing. 

Repo facilities are commonly used by sovereign issuers to support the market activity of their primary dealers. The EU Repo facility operates in line with standard practices of peer sovereign issuers. The launch of the Repo facility marks the implementation of the final measure announced by the Commission in December 2022 to support the EU bonds market. The Commission has now all the tools that it needs to manage successfully a busy period of issuance to end-2026 with the support of its valued Primary Dealer Network.

To mark the launch of the Facility, Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, together with the President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, will lead a ‘Ring the Bell Ceremony' at 17:00 CEST on the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, in Germany. 

Full details of the facility can be found in this dedicated factsheet. More information here.

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