Don’t bank on it: Fed urged to widen access to new repo facility

Central clearing of SRF’s repos and less unease over its use could also buoy glitchy Treasury market

Cracking the problem of malfunctioning in the world’s most important market requires suitably powerful tools. To many of those involved in the US Treasury market, the Federal Reserve’s domestic standing repurchase agreement facility is not one of them. But, with the right tweaks, it could be.

One change many are calling for is to open up the facility, known as the SRF, to a much wider range of institutions, to boost market-making capacity in times of stress. Doing so by connecting the SRF to