There is no doubt that European repo markets today are operating in unprecedented territory. In the past year we have faced the extraordinary situation of collateralised transactions taking place well below the ECB’s deposit rate, and not just for the highest-rated issuers. There are increasing signs that this is indicative of market stress. Though market depth remains relatively stable and the bid offer spreads are not a major liquidity restriction, the decreased average ticket size seems reflective of collateral scarcity in some market segments. If one looks at the distribution of trades taking place by rates towards the end of last year, while German collateral usually traded at around -70 bps, it traded at -4.88% at year-end, reflecting increased demand for “special” German bonds (while overall turnover declined about 50%). In a “special” the repo contract specifies a particular bond to be exchanged for cash, rather than the specification of a broad collateral class such as ‘German government bond’. As a result, specials tend to trade at lower interest rates.[...]