European Central Bank (ECB) announces methodology for calculating Euro Short-Term Rate (ESTER)
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided on the final methodology for calculating the Euro Short-Term Rate (ESTER) –an overnight unsecured rate based entirely on money market statistical reporting (MMSR), which will start to be published by October 2019.
The Governing Council also decided to release the time-lagged publication of daily rate, volume and dispersion data based on the main methodological features of the forthcoming ESTER, called pre-ESTER. The first publication of pre-ESTER covers historical time series data for the reserve maintenance periods from 15 March 2017 to 2 May 2018. Regular releases for each reserve maintenance period will be issued starting in the summer of 2018.
The methodology is published today on the ECB website. Click here to consult it.
The Governing Council would like to thank all respondents to the two ECB public consultations on the design of the interest rate. The feedback provided valuable guidance in the preparation of the final methodology.
About ESTER
ESTER is a rate which reflects the wholesale euro unsecured overnight borrowing costs of euro area banks. The rate is published for each TARGET2 business day based on transactions conducted and settled on the previous day (reporting date T) with a maturity date of T+1 and which are deemed to be executed at arm’s length and thereby reflect market rates in an unbiased way.
Transparency policy
In order to support the transparency of the benchmark determination process, the ECB will periodically publish summary information on errors larger than 0.1 basis points that were detected after the standard publication and did not meet the republication criteria.
