Bank of Korea to offer $12bn in dollar lending from Fed currency swap

• The Bank of Korea will auction the dollars for seven-day, and 84-day terms at 25 basis points over the overnight index swap rate.
• The agreement with South Korea is a $60 billion bilateral currency swap facility for at least six months.

SEOUL: South Korea's central bank said on Sunday it will draw on its new currency swap with the US Federal Reserve to provide $12 billion of US dollar funding to local banks via auctions on March 31.

The Bank of Korea will auction the dollars for seven-day, and 84-day terms at 25 basis points over the overnight index swap rate, it said in a statement.

The Fed said on March 19 the BOK is one of nine central banks it will sign new dollar swap lines with in a coordinated action to prevent the coronavirus epidemic from causing a global economic rout.

The agreement with South Korea is a $60 billion bilateral currency swap facility for at least six months.

The BOK said it will hold additional auctions to inject dollar liquidity if needed.