United States: Commercial Paper Funding Facility II

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 caused widespread economic uncertainty, prompting government officials to act swiftly to combat potentially severe fallout. On March 17, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve announced the revival of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), a program that the government had utilized during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to provide a liquidity backstop to domestic issuers of commercial paper (CP). As with the first iteration of the program, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) funded a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to purchase highly rated, US dollar-denominated CP, including asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP). The FRBNY's loans were secured by all assets of the SPV, as well as a $10 billion equity investment from the Treasury Department. The SPV's CP holdings peaked at $4.3 billion in the week of May 14, 2020, but quickly dropped over the following months. Although the SPV was scheduled to cease operations on March 17, 2021, the Fed extended the program through March 31, 2021. On July 8, 2021, the Fed announced the legal termination of the facility.