Richard Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research with the Treasury Department, said his office will survey industry on repurchase agreements starting early 2015 to gather data for policymakers and repo market participants.The Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission will team up with OFR on the initiative, which Berner expects should help build the Treasury’s ability to assess financial activity.
“Collaborating with our colleagues at the Fed and SEC, we hold great hope for the insights that illumination from this pilot project will yield in promoting the stability of short-term financing markets and our broader financial system,†Berner said in a Wednesday blog post on Treasury.gov.
According to the OFR director, the project will focus on bilateral repo transactions, a part of the repo market where the least amount of information is found.
Bilateral repos occur directly between two companies, where one party sells a security to the other with the intention to buy it back later at an agreed, fixed price.
