The European Central Bank has boosted its limit for securities lending to EUR250 billion from the previous EUR150 billion, with the change effective immediately. The move is precautionary and aimed at easing year-end collateral scarcity.

"The Eurosystem decided to increase the Securities Lending limit against cash to EUR 250 billion to pre-empt any potential concerns around year-end. This higher limit will ensure that the Eurosystem Securities Lending facilities can continue to support market functioning and provide an efficient backstop for the euro area repo markets in particular over the year-end," an ECB spokesperson told MNI.

In a tweet Thursday, Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said securities purchased under the ECBs asset purchase programmes "are available for securities lending in a decentralised manner, subject to backstop pricing:. Since 8 December 2016, "cash is accepted as collateral."