Since everyone is worried about how the ECB is protecting itself on all the rubbish collateral it’s picked up over the course of the crisis, here for everyone’s benefit is a picture of how the ECB’s deposits related to margin calls have shaped up over the last few years (in millions of euros):
And here is the other side of the coin, the ECB’s credits related to margin calls:
Just like for any institution, collateral management and margin maintenance is becoming a bit of a headache for the ECB. No wonder the Banque of France has recently outsourced the task of collecting margin from counterparties to a third party.
Related links:
Banque de France outsources collateral management – Risk
Nomura on Draghi’s failure to address the collateral problem – FT Alphaville