Asset Purchase Facility: Gilt Sales – Market Notice 24 March 2023

Market notice

This Market Notice sets out the schedule for sales in Q2 2023 of gilts held in the Asset Purchase Facility for monetary policy purposes. The Bank intends to sell a total of £3.08bn in each of the short, medium and long maturity sectors during Q2, spread across four auctions in each sector. Auctions will commence on 3 April for short maturity gilts, 17 April for medium maturity gilts and 4 May for long maturity gilts.

The Bank set out in the consolidated APF gilt sales Market Notice published on 1 September 2022 that it would publish a quarterly schedule for the sales of gilts held in the Asset Purchase Facility (APF) for monetary policy purposes. The details and schedule for the Q2 2023 sales of such gilts are set out in this Market Notice which covers the period from 3 April 2023 to the week commencing 26 June 2023.

In Q2 2023, the Bank will continue to sell gilts evenly across short, medium and long maturity buckets. These sectors are defined as gilts with a residual maturity of between: 3-7 years (short), 7-20 years (medium); and over 20 years (long).

During Q2 2023, the Bank intends to hold four gilt sale auctions in each of these three sectors, with a planned size of £770mn per auction. The dates of the individual auctions are specified in the table below. Auctions will commence on 3 April for short maturity gilts, 17 April for medium maturity gilts and 4 May for long maturity gilts.

In the consolidated APF gilt sales Market Notice published on 1 September 2022 the Bank noted that it expected to hold an auction in each maturity bucket once per fortnight. Due to the number of operating days available in Q2 2023 our approach will be to operate one APF gilt auction per week in most weeks. This means that an auction will typically be held in each maturity bucket at least every four weeks.

Other than as amended in this Market Notice, the detailed operational parameters and participation requirements set out previously will apply to these gilt sales.

The Bank will continue to monitor the impact of its gilt sales programme on market conditions, and reserves the right to amend its schedule, including the gilts to be sold and the size of its auctions, or any other aspect of its approach at its sole discretion.

The Bank expects to announce the sales schedule for Q3 2023 at 4.30pm on 23 June 2023.

Table: APF gilt sales auction calendar – April to June 2023