Riksbank EUREP Access: A EUR 50 Billion Euro Backstop From Q4 2026

ByRegReportingDesk
RegReportingDesk card: Riksbank, Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden

On 1 October 2026 the Riksbank announced that the Eurosystem has approved its onboarding to EUREP, the Eurosystem’s repo facility for central banks outside the euro area. The line lets the Riksbank borrow up to EUR 50 billion by pledging eligible euro-denominated collateral, and the ECB has said that drawings under the enhanced facility are possible from the fourth quarter of 2026. The Riksbank describes the step as a strengthening of Sweden’s crisis preparedness and financial stability.

For banks that run books in both Swedish krona and euro, the practical question is what Riksbank EUREP access changes in their own liquidity numbers. The borrower is the Riksbank. Banks receive no facility, no committed line and no new eligible asset from the arrangement, so the euro liquidity coverage ratio, the ALMM maturity ladder and the contingency funding plan all start from the same rules as before. The added capacity sits on the Riksbank’s side, and it can reach a bank only through the Riksbank’s own lending powers under Swedish law.

Related reading: Riksbank Borrowing Capacity Test: What Banks Must Verify About Central Bank Liquidity Access

Riksbank EUREP timeline

  • 14 February 2026: the ECB Governing Council decides to enhance EUREP with standing access, in principle for all central banks unless excluded on grounds such as money laundering, terrorist financing or international sanctions, with the changes taking effect in the third quarter of 2026.
  • 24 July 2026: the ECB publishes the operational details and starts onboarding non-euro area central banks, with drawings possible from the fourth quarter of 2026.
  • 1 October 2026: the Riksbank announces that the Eurosystem has approved its onboarding.
  • 1 January 2027: the EBA’s revised SREP Guidelines (EBA/GL/2026/06), which revise the common framework for assessing liquidity and funding risks, apply.

The line’s terms and the collateral the Riksbank has to use

The terms are the ECB’s and apply uniformly to onboarded central banks. Transactions run from overnight to one week and may be extended. Pricing is the main refinancing operations rate plus a spread that the Governing Council sets to preserve the backstop character of the facility. Five national central banks operate EUREP under ECB coordination: the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Banco de España, the Banque de France, the Banca d’Italia and De Nederlandsche Bank.

The collateral rule holds the narrow detail. EUREP accepts marketable securities issued by central, regional or local governments of European Economic Area countries, by Eurosystem-recognised agencies (covered bonds excluded) or by Eurosystem-recognised supranational entities, with a minimum rating of credit quality step 3 under the Eurosystem credit assessment framework. An accessing central bank cannot mobilise securities issued by a central, regional or local government in its own jurisdiction. For the Riksbank, Swedish government paper of any tier is therefore out.

The Riksbank pledges that collateral itself, so no bank’s collateral pool features in the EUREP leg. EUREP also sits alongside the Riksbank’s existing swap agreement with the ECB, under which the Riksbank borrows euros against Swedish kronor. The two tools differ in what the Riksbank hands over: krona in the swap, euro securities in the repo.

How euros from Riksbank EUREP access could reach a Swedish bank

EUREP access is limited to central banks and monetary authorities outside the euro area, and each request goes from the central bank governor to the ECB President for Governing Council approval. The enhanced design also loosened the old link to banks. According to the ECB’s FAQ, the previous EUREP was reserved for lending by non-euro area central banks to their domestic financial institutions, while the enhanced facility places no ex ante restrictions on how a central bank uses the funds.

The bank-facing channel is therefore Swedish law. Chapter 3, Section 6 of the Sveriges Riksbank Act (2022:1568) allows the Riksbank, where needed to counteract a serious disruption to the financial system in Sweden, to grant credit in Swedish kronor or foreign currency against adequate collateral to financial firms, including firms that conduct business from a branch in Sweden and central counterparties. Chapter 2, Section 4 gives a parallel monetary policy power to grant credit in kronor and foreign currency against adequate collateral. Chapter 3, Section 7 adds special liquidity support: where needed to counteract a serious disruption to the financial system in Sweden, or where there are other exceptional reasons, credit in kronor or foreign currency, against collateral and other special conditions, to a viable financial firm to meet a temporary liquidity need. The Riksbank’s own article on the Act, in its 2023 Financial Stability Report, says the detailed conditions for general liquidity support have not been published and will be set according to the circumstances of each situation.

The closest published precedent is the dollar operation of March 2020. On 19 March 2020 the Riksbank entered a swap agreement with the Federal Reserve and its Executive Board decided, under the previous Sveriges Riksbank Act (1988:1385), to offer up to USD 60 billion of three-month credit to its monetary policy counterparties. Allocation ran by auction, no single counterparty could take more than 40 per cent of an offered amount, and the collateral rules in the Riksbank’s Terms and Conditions for RIX and Monetary Policy Instruments applied. Whether a euro operation funded through EUREP would copy the March 2020 design is an open question: neither the Riksbank EUREP notice nor the ECB EUREP documentation describes a bank-facing product. Earlier Riksbank crisis operations, including its 2008 and 2009 US-dollar auctions, provide additional historical precedents but do not determine the terms of any future euro operation.

Euro LCR and ALMM reporting stay where they were

The reporting perimeter is untouched. Article 415(2) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) requires separate liquidity reporting in a currency other than the reporting currency once aggregate liabilities in that currency reach 5 per cent of total liabilities, excluding own funds and off-balance-sheet items. Finansinspektionen adds currency-level requirements for banks in Supervision Categories 1 and 2: a liquidity coverage ratio of at least 100 per cent in euro and in US dollars, each where the currency is significant for the bank, and, under the approach it has applied since 1 October 2019, at least 75 per cent in every other significant currency, Swedish kronor included. Article 8(6) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61 separately requires the currency denomination of liquid assets to be consistent with the distribution by currency of net liquidity outflows. The Riksbank’s euro line alters none of these ratios.

Article 419(2)(b) CRR shows how narrowly the LCR framework treats central bank credit lines: for currencies with constraints on the availability of liquid assets, required liquid assets may be substituted by central bank credit lines that are contractually irrevocably committed for the next 30 days and fairly priced. Nothing in the Riksbank notice or the ECB terms creates a line committed to any bank.

The ALMM maturity ladder follows the same logic. In template C 66.01, item 3.8 of the counterbalancing capacity covers undrawn committed facilities received by the reporting institution, and the instructions permit only contractually available amounts there. The Riksbank’s ability to borrow from the Eurosystem is no such facility. The template mechanics are set out in our guide to LCR, NSFR and ALMM liquidity reporting.

Recording the Riksbank euro backstop in a contingency funding plan

Contingency planning is where the arrangement can legitimately appear, and the existing rules already frame the question. Article 86(11) of Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD) requires competent authorities to ensure that institutions have liquidity recovery plans, tested at least annually, and that credit institutions hold collateral immediately available for central bank funding, where necessary in the currency of another Member State or of a third country to which they have exposures. For a Swedish bank with euro exposures, the euro is that other Member State currency.

The EBA’s revised SREP Guidelines apply from 1 January 2027 and revise the common framework supervisors use when assessing institutions’ liquidity and funding risks. Our note on the EBA revised SREP Guidelines covers the wider changes, and our overview of ICAAP and ILAAP shows where such assumptions are documented.

On those two texts, EUREP belongs in the plan as context about the Riksbank. A plan can state that the Riksbank now has a euro backstop from the Eurosystem and a statutory power to lend in foreign currency. It has no basis for quantifying a bank’s share of a euro operation the Riksbank has not announced, at a price and against collateral not yet published.

The Canadian case points the other way. Our note on the Bank of Canada Standing Liquidity Facility covers a facility that payment system participants draw themselves, under published rules a contingency plan can reference line by line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Riksbank’s general liquidity support power reach firms operating through a branch in Sweden?

The statutory text names them. Chapter 3, Section 6 of the Sveriges Riksbank Act lists financial firms that conduct business from a branch in Sweden among the possible recipients of credit in kronor or foreign currency. Whether any particular operation would include branches depends on terms the Riksbank sets when it acts.

Our buffer holds euro-denominated Swedish government bonds. Does the EUREP collateral exclusion affect them?

The exclusion governs only what the Riksbank can pledge to the Eurosystem. A bank’s LCR eligibility follows Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61, and its collateral at the Riksbank follows the Riksbank’s own eligibility rules; neither is changed by the EUREP terms.

Will the market see if the Riksbank draws on EUREP?

Only in aggregate, as far as the ECB is concerned. Its weekly data show the total daily amount provided under EUREP and swap lines combined, without naming the central banks that drew. If the Riksbank lends euros onward as liquidity support to counteract a serious disruption to the financial system in Sweden, Chapter 11, Section 4 of the Sveriges Riksbank Act requires it to publish such measures and their detailed conditions unless that would be inappropriate for the stability or efficiency of the financial system.

Key Takeaways

  • Riksbank EUREP access is Riksbank capacity and adds nothing to a bank’s euro LCR or to item 3.8 of C 66.01.
  • Euro liquidity reporting keeps its triggers: separate currency reporting from the 5 per cent liabilities threshold, and Finansinspektionen’s 100 per cent euro LCR for Supervision Categories 1 and 2 where the euro is significant.
  • Any euro lending to banks would have to rely on an applicable Riksbank lending power under Swedish law. These include the monetary-policy power in Chapter 2, Section 4, general liquidity support under Chapter 3, Section 6, and special liquidity support to an individual viable financial firm under Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Sveriges Riksbank Act. The terms would depend on the power and operation used.
  • A contingency funding plan can record the Riksbank euro channel as possible but unquantified; the testable item under Article 86(11) CRD remains the euro collateral held immediately available for central bank funding.
  • The ECB’s weekly EUREP and swap-line data are aggregate and will not show Riksbank-specific usage.

Sources and References

The contingency plan entry on euro central bank funding before the 2027 SREP cycle

Drawings under the enhanced EUREP are now possible, and the revised SREP Guidelines apply from 1 January 2027. The document to revisit before that SREP cycle is the contingency funding plan entry on central bank euro funding: it is the entry where a bank records what it assumes about central bank funding, within the liquidity and funding risk assessment the revised Guidelines frame.

Disclaimer: The information on RegReportingDesk.com is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, or compliance advice. Always consult your compliance officer, legal counsel, or the relevant supervisory authority for guidance specific to your institution.

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