The ECB this afternoon announced settled purchases under CBPP3 to last Friday of Eu10.485bn, up Eu3.077bn from a week earlier to make it the biggest week of purchases yet, with potentially around Eu1bn of primary market buying included in the latest figure, which is ahead of forecasts.

The latest weekly total compares with an increase of Eu1.704bn the previous week, and Eu3.075bn – the previous largest – the week before that, which was the second week’s figure released by the ECB and the first to capture a full week of activity. The daily average for last week was Eu615.4m.

The latest figure includes CBPP3 buying of three eligible primary market issues that settled in the reference period: a Banco Sabadell Eu1.25bn seven year that settled on Wednesday and of which central banks and official institutions took 27% (or Eu337.5m); a Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) Eu1.5bn seven year that settled on Wednesday with a respective figure of 44% (Eu660m); and a BNP Paribas Home Loan SFH Eu500m 10 year that settled on Friday at 40% (Eu200m). The aggregate central bank and official institution allocation of the three deals is Eu1.1975bn, although this does not necessarily capture only Eurosystem purchases under CBPP3.

The week’s total includes any secondary buying conducted from Thursday of the previous week to last Wednesday, with such trades settling two days after being conducted. No signs of any buying of retained covered bonds – a potential third contributor to ECB purchases – has yet been reported.

Benoît Cœuré, member of the executive board of the ECB, said last Wednesday that the ECB had bought about Eu11bn of covered bonds under CBPP3, but he did not specify the basis for the number and a spokesperson for the central bank said he could not confirm whether the figure was on the same basis as the regular Monday reporting or, for example, included purchases that had not yet settled.

The ECB announced the latest figure at around 1545 CET, having put back the publication time by 15 minutes for technical reasons, according to the ECB spokesperson.