Authors: Evangeline Sophia Drossos and Spence Hilton

With the approach of the new millennium last year, many market participants resolved to limit their exposure to Y2K-related risks by cutting back normal trading activities. The Federal Reserve foresaw that the widespread adoption of such a strategy could lead to serious liquidity problems in key financing markets. Consequently, the Fed undertook to create a Standby Financing Facility that would provide securities dealers with a form of backup funding and ease market anxieties about year-end credit conditions.