=not to be confused with Retention. Securitisations are eligible collateral under various lending windows by the ECB and the Bank of England. This means that a bank wishing to borrow funds from its central bank can do so provided it furnishes some form of collateral to that central bank. The collateral that central banks will accept (eligible collateral) is tightly defined and includes, for both the ECB and the Bank of England, certain types of securitisations. Therefore, in recent year, banks have issued securitisations for the sole purpose of creating eligible collateral. These securitisations are identical to traditional securitisations but, instead of being sold to outside investors, the originator bank keeps all the securities. Those securities – retained securitisations – are then available to the originator bank to provide as collateral to the central bank when it feels it needs liquidity. Conversely, securitisations that are not so retained but sold to outside investor are called placed securitisations.
