Weekly Update: Bank Term Funding Program

Here is this week’s BTFP activity. The Fed’s BTFP bailout/back door QE program is scheduled to expire on March 11th.

• The Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP, bail out/QE) had approximately $164.2 billion in outstanding loans as of Wednesday this week, essentially flat with $164.8 billion a week ago. The Fed is working to position its Discount window as the BTFP’s replacement to support weak banks. Discount window activity in the weeks after March 11th will provide insight into the health of the Banking sector. The greater the outstanding Discount window loan balance post-March 11th, the weaker the banking sector.

• The outstanding Discount window balance was $2.4 billion as of Wednesday February 21st. This figure peaked at $153 billion in March 2023.

FEDERAL RESERVE statistical release: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/

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