Bulletin – September 2012 Financial Regulation and Australian Dollar Liquid Assets Abstract
Liquid assets with low credit and market risk have a number of uses in financial markets, such as providing collateral against short-term funding or credit exposures that arise between counterparties to financial transactions. This article examines the existing sources of demand for Australian dollar-denominated liquid assets. Given relatively low levels of government debt in Australia, demand for these assets has been increasing relative to supply for some time. A further increase in demand arising from regulatory changes designed to improve the management of liquidity risk and counterparty credit risk will accentuate this trend.