Minutes
Item 1 – Welcome
The Chair thanked members for attending and confirmed that the Minutes of the Money Markets Committee (MMC) June 2026 meeting had been published on the Bank’s website.footnote [1]
The Chair updated on recent usage of the Bank’s market-wide repo facilities. Members were reminded that use of the Bank’s facilities, including against a broad range of eligible collateral, was consistent with the intended transition to a repo-led operating framework.
The Chair provided a brief update on the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) September decision on Quantitative Tighteningfootnote [2], including the exchange of letters between the Governor and the Chancellor regarding QT and the APF.footnote [3] The Chair also noted the related announcements made by the Bank and HM Treasury that came out at the same time.footnote [4]
Item 2 – Discussion on market conditions
Members noted that money markets continued to function smoothly and that funding conditions remained stable, even during recent increased bond market volatility. Liquidity was reported to be ample, with limited signs of stress. Members also reported stable cross-currency funding conditions despite recent geopolitical developments and broader market volatility, with quarter-end and year-end conditions expected to remain orderly. While some highlighted the potential for volatility in outright asset markets to transmit into funding conditions through reduced risk appetite or position unwinds, the overall assessment was that money market functioning remained robust. Some nevertheless noted emerging funding pressures further out the euro curve as Eurosystem liquidity continued to decline. Members also discussed developments in European Commercial Paper (ECP) markets, noting increased issuance activity and growing use of these funding channels.
Members also discussed the Financial Policy Committee’s proposed changes to the leverage ratio frameworkfootnote [5]. Members generally welcomed the direction of the proposals but considered that leverage requirements are just one of a number of constraints on their activity including stress-testing assumptions, investor expectations and risk-weighted capital requirements. As a result, members considered that it was difficult to predict the extent to which the proposals would lead to a material increase in leverage or balance-sheet deployment in UK money markets in the near-term. Some noted that greater releasability of constraints in stress could support increased use of gilts and reverse repo within buffers.
Members noted increasing competition for retail and corporate deposits. While this had not materially affected funding plans, some observed that sustained competition for deposits could increase wholesale funding requirements and funding costs over time. Members agreed this would remain an area to monitor.
From a market infrastructure perspective, strong trading activity across gilt and international markets was reported, with no material change in cleared repo conditions. Members also welcomed the predictability provided by the MPC and Bank's recent balance sheet announcements and noted that the Bank's liquidity facilities continued to support confidence in firms' ability to manage reserves and liquidity needs.
Item 3 – Update on RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours in the context of the Bank’s May 2026 Consultation Paper
Bank staff provided an update on plans to extend RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours to support innovation, cross-border payments and liquidity management. Feedback to the May 2026 Consultation Paperfootnote [6] was broadly supportive, with respondents generally favouring an extension of existing operating days before adding further operating days.
Members supported the overall direction of travel but highlighted a range of practical considerations that would need to be addressed as the proposals developed. These included the availability and design of liquidity facilities outside current operating hours, the management of liquidity and collateral over weekends and bank holidays, and the implications for firms' operational resilience arrangements. Members also discussed how firms would respond to market or liquidity events occurring outside traditional business hours and the extent to which additional staffing, automation or liquidity buffers may be required. Discussion also noted that these challenges could be particularly significant for smaller firms and corporates, whose operational and treasury resources may be more limited.
Members further discussed the implications of different approaches to value-date rollover during an extended settlement day. While some noted the benefits of preserving existing end-of-day operational processes, others highlighted the importance of alignment with existing contractual, accounting and reconciliation frameworks. Members observed that changes to value-date conventions could have broader implications for the treatment of payments around weekends and bank holidays, reserve account management and the handling of large counterparty exposures. Bank staff noted that work would continue with industry to better understand these issues and provide further clarity on the proposed approach as the programme continues to develop.
Item 4 – Forward agenda and horizon scanning
The Chair invited suggestions for future agenda items and noted that the Committee would continue to receive updates on items including RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours and other developments relevant to sterling money markets. Members were encouraged to raise topics for future discussion.
Item 4 – AOB
The Chair noted ongoing industry engagement on Euroclear UK & International's proposed MiniCREST contingency arrangement for an extreme but plausible cyber-attack scenario and proposed returning to the topic at the December meeting. Members interested in participating in the relevant industry fora were invited to contact the Secretariat.
The Sterling Money Markets Code Sub-Committee is preparing the next update to the Code, with publication planned for 2027 in line with the three-year review cycle. Expressions of interest were invited from members and colleagues who wished to contribute to product-specific working groups covering repo, securities lending and unsecured markets.
Members were also informed of a report by the Association of Corporate Treasurers on promoting the UK as a location for corporate treasury centres.footnote [7]