The European Central Bank’s governing council decided on April 22 to accept instruments that fall below its minimum credit quality requirements as collateral for its refinancing operations. 

Marketable assets and issuers of these instruments falling below BBB – which was the previous minimum requirement – will now be accepted as collateral by the ECB. One observer welcomed the move as a bold effort to preserve eurozone banks’ access to finance, but said it was not the most radical step the bank