Commercial Paper Funding Facility - Explanation

Explanation

The CPFF began operations on October 27, 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and government bailout of AIG and the global credit freeze that ensued. The CPFF method of short-term funding provided liquidity to U.S. issuers of commercial paper through a special purpose vehicle, aka SPV, which bought unsecured and asset-backed commercial paper for 3 month period from eligible issuers with funds made available by the NY Fed. The commercial paper remained in the custody of the SPV till the CP matured. On maturity, the proceeds from commercial paper and other assets were used to repay the loan that was originally taken from the NY Fed. All purchases of the Commercial Papers by the SPV was done through the New York Fed’s primary dealers. This program lent out a total $738 billion before it was closed. 45 out 81 of the companies participating in this program were foreign firms. Research shows that Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recipients were twice as likely to participate in the program than other commercial paper issuers who did not take advantage of the TARP bailout. The Fed incurred no losses from the CPFF.

This program was created at the same time that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation implemented the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program to increase liquidity in inter-bank lending.