The Bank of Canada is adding a late-day option for calls for tenders for cash management bills.

The central bank announced today that calls for tenders for cash management bills may be released on any day at either 10:00 a.m. or 4:00 p.m., effective immediately.

It says that the addition of a later time to the existing Auction Timetable will, “increase the ability of the government’s cash managers to raise balances on short notice in response to unexpected developments”.

The later release time re-establishes an option that had been available to government cash managers during the mid-1990s. “It is anticipated that calls for tenders at this later time will be infrequent and would involve an auction on the following day for same-day settlement,” the Bank adds. Auctions of cash management bills will continue to be held at 10:30 a.m.

The Bank notes that this change was discussed with market participants during the Debt Strategy Consultations for 2004/05 held in January 2004.