BoJ open market operations

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-19 Review by 2026-11-15 Sources 5 Machine-translated Original (JA)
#money-market#BoJ#open-market-operations#monetary-policy#JGB
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Wiki route

This entry sits under money-market index. Read it against JGB repo market in Japan for peer / contrast context and Japan money market for the broader system / regulatory boundary.

TL;DR

Open market operations are the Bank of Japan’s main implementation tool for money-market control. Under the policy guideline decided at Monetary Policy Meetings, the BoJ supplies or absorbs funds by lending against collateral, buying or selling securities, conducting repo-style operations, and using other market-operation facilities.

For FinWiki, this page is the mechanics layer under boj-monetary-policy and japan-money-market.

Operation Types

The BoJ’s own explanation divides open market operations into two broad directions:

DirectionMeaningTypical examples
Funds-supplying operationsBoJ adds liquidity to financial markets.Loans against pooled collateral, JGB purchases, Treasury Discount Bill purchases, JGS purchase operations with resale agreements.
Funds-absorbing operationsBoJ drains liquidity from financial markets.Sales of BoJ bills, JGS sale operations with repurchase agreements.

The exact operation menu changes with the policy regime. Always verify the current official BoJ operation page before using this page for trade-level or current-rate analysis.

Why Operations Matter

Market operations translate policy into balance-sheet reality:

  • They affect current-account balances at the BoJ.
  • They influence the uncollateralized overnight call rate and other short funding prices.
  • They affect JGB market liquidity and dealer inventory conditions.
  • They change collateral demand and the relative attractiveness of repo / call funding.
  • They determine which institutions have operational contact with the BoJ as counterparties or account holders.

JapanFG Relevance

Entity clusterOperation linkage
MegabanksReserve balances, loan / deposit repricing, JGB portfolio valuation, liquidity placement.
Securities firmsJGB dealing, repo finance, collateral, and dealer-balance-sheet capacity.
Tanshi companiesMoney-market brokerage, operation-counterparty adjacency, call-market rate formation.
Trust / custody banksSettlement liquidity, collateral movement, fund cash management.

Use these internal anchors:

Reading Checklist

When reading a BoJ operation result, capture:

  1. operation type;
  2. offer amount and accepted amount;
  3. rate / yield terms if disclosed;
  4. maturity / duration;
  5. eligible collateral or securities;
  6. whether the operation supplies or absorbs funds;
  7. relationship to the current MPM guideline.

Sources

  • Bank of Japan: What types of open market operations does the Bank conduct?
  • Bank of Japan: What are market operations?
  • Bank of Japan: Money Market.
  • Bank of Japan: 2024年度の金融市場調節.