BSP to reintroduce 28-day TDF

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday said it will reintroduce the 28-day term deposit facility (TDF) next month, citing strong demand.

According to the auction schedule released by the central bank, the 28-day TDF will be reintroduced on February 7.

“There’s strong overall demand for TDFs as evidenced by the consistent strong bid relative to offer,” BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in a text message to reporters.

The BSP stopped issuing the 28-day facility on Dec. 20, 2017 as demand weakened. As a result, the central continued the weekly auction offering only the seven-day TDF.

During Wednesday’s auction, the central bank noted P116.634 billion bids for the 7-day TDF. The weighted average accepted yield was 2.7785 percent, with a bid coverage ratio of 2.9159.

“We’re feeling out the tenor preference and we will adjust supply accordingly in future auctions to meet our IRC objectives,” Espenilla said. IRC is the interest rate corridor.

The TDF is the central bank tool to manage liquidity or money in the financial system.

Under the facility, banks may bid for the interest rates which the BSP will pay for them to park their excess funds for seven or 28 days in the central bank vaults.

The 30-minute auction is held once a week at 9:20 a.m. with a minimum placement of P10 million.