MNI BRIEF: Fed Debated Standing Repo Facility in April

The Federal Reserve discussed a standing repo facility at the last FOMC meeting, with a a substantial majority of participants seeing potential benefits outweighing the costs, meeting minutes released Wednesday showed.

"Nearly all" FOMC participants commented that a standing repo facility could address pressures in Treasury and repo markets, minutes showed, and "many participants" noted a facility could provide a timely and automatic response to market pressures. Fed officials still seemed divided on basic questions like pricing, counterparties and collateral.

The discussion comes on the back of a recent meeting between Treasury officials and the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee discussing the tool as a way to help in times of market stress. MNI reported last year the debate would return with a focus on proper market function.