Federal Reserve Extends Lending Facilities; EC to Ease Some MiFID Burdens

The Federal Reserve Board announced an extension through December 31 of its lending facilities that were scheduled to expire on or around September 30. The three-month extension will facilitate planning by potential facility participants and provide certainty that the facilities will continue to be available to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed said. The extensions apply to the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, and the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility, among others. Further details on each can be found here. Meanwhile, the European Commission said it will remove certain requirements under MiFID II to boost Europe’s recovery from the pandemic. As reported in The Trade, the European Commission proposed exemptions for asset managers from unbundling requirements when paying for research on small- and mid-cap companies and in fixed income investments. According to Bloomberg, the new rules would allow payments to be re-bundled for research on fixed income markets and companies worth less than $1.15 billion, and the changes could take effect in early 2021.