Main Refinancing Operations (ECB)

The Governing Council of the ECB sets the key interest rates for the euro area. The available rates are:

• Main refinancing operations (refinancing)
• Marginal lending facility (lending)
• Deposit facility (deposit)

The main refinancing operations (MRO) rate is the interest rate banks pay when they borrow money from the ECB for one week. When they do this, they have to provide collateral to guarantee that the money will be paid back.

The marginal lending facility rate is the interest rate banks pay when they borrow from the ECB overnight. When they do this, they have to provide collateral, for example securities, to guarantee that the money will be paid back.

The deposit facility rate is one of the three interest rates the ECB sets every six weeks as part of its monetary policy. The rate defines the interest banks receive for depositing money with the central bank overnight.

With ample excess liquidity in the banking system the deposit facility rate is the rate that steers money markets: the euro short-term rate (€STR) trades just below it. The marginal lending rate forms the top of the corridor and the deposit facility rate the bottom, with the main refinancing rate in between; the main refinancing rate matters more when banks rely on the ECB’s weekly operations for funding.

See source: https://data.ecb.europa.eu/main-figures/

Also known as: ECB rates, deposit facility rate.

Main Refinancing Operations (ECB) in Python or via the MCP

Install the Finance Toolkit with:

pip install financetoolkit -U

Then call get_european_central_bank_rates as shown below.

from financetoolkit import FixedIncome

fixedincome = FixedIncome(start_date='2023-12-01', end_date="2025-12-31")

fixedincome.get_european_central_bank_rates()

Or, after setting up the Finance Toolkit MCP, ask:

Which returns:

Parameters

get_european_central_bank_rates accepts the following parameters.

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