ZURICH – Major central banks tapped swap lines with their United States counterpart for just US$590.5 million (S$787 million) in the past week, even after officials moved to make the facilities available daily in the light of global banking concerns.

The European Central Bank (ECB) accounted for US$483.5 million of that, while the Swiss National Bank – which has been in focus amid the crisis around Credit Suisse Group AG – tapped it for US$107 million, data from the Federal Reserve show.

The figures for the seven days through March 22 compared with around US$469.5 million the prior week for the ECB, and the US$1 million taken by the Bank of Japan. 

The total is well below the levels reached early in the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, suggesting that no great dash for cash is under way by the world’s biggest monetary authorities. The data was published after officials moved to make the facilities available more frequently in the light of global banking concerns, with daily accessibility.

That decision came as Switzerland’s authorities brokered a takeover of embattled lender Credit Suisse by UBS Group AG and concerns persisted about US regional lenders.

Central bank swap lines – first used extensively during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago – are temporary lending facilities that allow central banks around the world to borrow dollars from the Fed in exchange for an equivalent amount of their local currencies.

Policymakers around the world last leaned on these in a concerted way in 2020 as the fallout from the pandemic upended markets. BLOOMBERG