Swiss central bank to offer $6b in short-term credit to markets

Zurich: The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will offer up to $6 billion in short-term credit to ease strains in jittery financial markets, the central bank said on Friday.

SNB's move will come in an auction of so-called repo loans, or repurchase agreements, to renew a similar measure of $6 billion made last month in concert with the European Central Bank (ECB), the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada.

"The bases for these tenders were developed jointly with other central banks, and we are still drawing these dollars from the Fed, but by now, not each individual offering is discussed among the central banks," said Werner Abed, spokes-man for the SNB.

It is the fourth in a series of auctions by the SNB since December.

The new 28-day offer will be made on Tuesday and renew the previous offer due to expire April 24, the central bank said. Under repo loans banks bid for the chance to borrow and put up securities as collateral in order to get ready cash to operate.

The ECB auctioned $15 billion to European banks earlier this month in coordination with a $50 billion auction by the Fed.

It was the ninth in a series of auctions by the Federal Reserve that began in December and have so far pumped $310 billion into the US banking system.