Open market operation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Open market operations are the means of implementing monetary policy by which a central bank controls its national money supply by buying and selling government securities, or other instruments. Monetary targets, such as interest rates or exchange rates, are used to guide this implementation.
Since most money is now in the form of electronic records, rather than paper records such as banknotes, open market operations are conducted simply by electronically increasing or decreasing the amount of money that a bank has, e.g., in its reserve account at the central bank, in exchange for the bank selling or buying a financial instrument. Newly created money is used by the central bank to buy in the open market a financial asset, such as government bonds, foreign currency, or gold. If the central bank sells these assets in the open market, the amount of money that the bank holds decreases, effectively destroying money.
The process does not literally require the immediate printing of new currency. A central bank account for a member bank can simply be increased electronically. However this will increase the central bank's requirement to print currency when the member bank demands banknotes, in exchange for a decrease in its electronic balance.
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[edit] Possible targets of open market operations
Under inflation targeting open market operations target a specific short term interest rate in the debt markets. This target is changed periodically to achieve and maintain an inflation rate within a target band. Many other variants of monetary policy also target interest rates. Both the US Federal Reserve and the ECB use variations of interest rate targets to guide open market operations. The US Federal Reserve's policy setting committee, the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) and its members, regularly publicly state a desired target range for inflation (usually around 1.5-2%), but do not have an explicit inflation target. This is under debate within the Fed world since inflation targeting is usually very successful in other countries because of its transparency and predictability to the markets. However, an inflation target would be too stubborn and inflexible for an economy during a national shock (9/11, Hurricane Katrina), thus the Fed continues with its inflation controlling goals, without the strict rules of an explicit target. Chairman Greenspan typically agreed with its benefits, but ultimately decided, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and it looks like his successors will follow.
Besides interest rate targeting there are other possible targets of open markets operations. A second possible target is the growth of the money supply, as was the case in the U.S. in the late 1970s through the early 1980s under Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
Under a gold standard open market operations would be used to achieve and maintain a target gold price. The goal would be to keep the value of the currency constant relative to gold.
Under a currency board open market operations would be used to achieve and maintain a fixed exchange rate with relation to some foreign currency.
A central bank can also use a mixture of policy settings that change depending on circumstances. A central bank may peg its exchange rate (like a currency board) with different levels or forms of commitment. The looser the exchange rate peg, the more latitude the central bank has to target other variables (such as interest rates). It may instead target a basket of foreign currencies rather than a single currency. In some instances it is empowered to use additional means other than open market operations, such as changes in reserve requirements or capital controls, to achieve monetary outcomes.
Economist Robert Mundell has stated that when using open market operations it is only possible to pursue a single target at any given time. You can not use open market operations to target interest rates while being on a gold standard. Likewise if you are targeting interest rates then the exchange rates will fluctuate.
[edit] Current goals and procedures of open market operations
In the United States, as of 2006 the Fed sets an interest rate target for the Fed funds (overnight bank reserves) market. When the actual Fed funds rate is higher than the target, the desk will usually increase the money supply via a repo (effectively lending). When the actual Fed funds rate is less than the target, the desk will usually decrease the money supply via a reverse repo (effectively borrowing).
The European Central Bank has similar mechanisms for their operations; however, it uses a four-tiered approach with different goals: beside its main goal of steering and smoothing Euroland interest rates while managing the liquidity situation in the market the ECB also has the aim of signalling the stance of monetary policy with its operations. The regular weekly "main refinancing operations" and the monthly "longer-term refinancing operations" provide liquidity to the financial sector, while ad-hoc "fine-tuning operations" (in the form of reverse or outright transactions, foreign exchange swaps and the collection of fixed-term deposits) aim to smooth interest rates caused by liquidity fluctuations in the market and "structural operations" are used to adjust the central banks' longer-term structural positions vis-a-vis the financial sector.
The Swiss National Bank currently targets the 3 month Swiss franc LIBOR rate, and borrows or lends Swiss francs directly with Swiss banks (in other words, without using repos) on an almost daily basis. These borrowings or loans are typically made for 1 day or 1 week, but may be as long as 1 month.
[edit] How open market operations are conducted in the USA
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve (Fed) most commonly uses overnight repurchase agreements (repos) to temporarily create money, or reverse repos to temporarily destroy money. Alternatively, it may permanently create money by the outright purchase of securities. Very rarely will it permanently destroy money by the outright sale of securities. These trades are made with a group of about 22 banks or bond dealers who are called primary dealers.
Money is created with a repo simply by electronically increasing the reserve account at a bank, that is by issuing a new liability of the central bank. Money is destroyed with a reverse repo simply by decreasing the reserve account of a bank, that is by destroying a liability of the central bank. The Fed has conducted open market operations in this manner since the 1920's, through the Open Market Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee.
