(1)

Pursuant to Article 1(4) of Guideline (EU) 2015/510 (ECB/2014/60), the Governing Council may, at any time, change the tools, instruments, requirements, criteria and procedures for the implementation of Eurosystem monetary policy operations.

(2)

On 22 July 2019, in pursuing its price stability mandate and to preserve favourable bank lending conditions and support the accommodative stance of monetary policy in Member States whose currency is the euro, the Governing Council adopted Decision (EU) 2019/1311 of the European Central Bank (ECB/2019/21) (2). This Decision provided for a third series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs-III) to be conducted over the period from September 2019 to March 2021.

(3)

On 12 March 2020, in order to support bank lending to those most affected by the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, the Governing Council decided to change three parameters of TLTRO-III, namely to increase the borrowing allowance from 30 % to 50 %, modify the maximum bid limit for individual TLTROs-III and, starting from September 2021, offer an early repayment option for amounts borrowed under TLTROs-III 12 months after the settlement of each operation, instead of 24 months.

(4)

In order to apply these adjusted parameters with immediate effect, this Decision should enter into force without delay.

(5)

Therefore, Decision (EU) 2019/1311 (ECB/2019/21) should be amended accordingly,

(1)

Article 4 is amended as follows:

(2)

in Article 5a, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

(3)

in Annex I, Section 1, the third paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘The borrowing allowance equals 50 % of the reference outstanding amount relating to the participant (*1) minus the amounts borrowed by the participant in the targeted longer-term refinancing operations pursuant to Decision (EU) 2016/810 (ECB/2016/10) (TLTROs-II) and still outstanding at the settlement date of the respective TLTRO-III, or zero if such amount is negative, i.e.:

(*1)  References to a “participant” should be understood as applying to individual participants or TLTRO-III groups.’;"

(4)

in Annex I, Section 1, the fifth paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘The bid limit applicable to each participant in each TLTRO-III is its borrowing allowance BAk less the amounts borrowed under previous TLTROs-III. Let

for k = 2,…,7.’.