The pace of the Eurosystem’s covered bond purchases have remained steady so far this month, with a slight increase in primary market settlements last week mirrored by a marginal drop in secondary settlements, as overall purchases of Eu917m took the CBPP3 portfolio past the Eu200bn mark.

ECB figures released on Monday show that settled and outstanding purchases under CBPP3 increased from Eu199.516bn to Eu200.433bn in the week to last Friday.

Figures published yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon show there were no redemptions in the CBPP3 portfolio last week, implying that gross purchases were the same as the net portfolio growth of Eu917m. This compares with gross purchases of Eu853m in the previous week, when no CBPP3 holdings matured.

One CBPP3-eligible deal settled last week, a Eu500m issue for ING-DiBa, of which analysts estimated the Eurosystem bought Eu150m-Eu200m. This implies that gross secondary market purchases averaged around Eu150m per day.

This compares with an average of around Eu171m per day in the previous week, when no eligible issuance settled, and is in line with secondary purchases earlier in the month.

CBPP3 buying is likely to register a more substantial increase next Monday, as Eu4bn of CBPP3-eligible supply settles this week, of which analysts estimated the Eurosystem bought around Eu1.6bn.