Change in timing of auction of Government of Canada treasury bills from 12:30 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. (Ottawa time) starting 17 June 2003

In its Debt Management Strategy 2003/04, the government announced that the auction time for treasury bills would be moved to 10:30 a.m., on a trial basis, starting 22 April 2003. This implementation date has been postponed to 17 June 2003 for operational reasons.

The timing of certain cash-management and securities-lending operations conducted by the Bank of Canada is also being changed, effective 17 June 2003 (Table 1 summarizes the new auction timelines):

Cash-management bond-buyback auctions

The bidding deadline for cash-management bond buybacks will be moved from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., with the release of results at 11:30 a.m. During the December 2002 Consultations, participants expressed a preference for this operation to occur after treasury bill auctions.

Cash-management bill auctions

Cash-management bill auctions will continue to be held at 10:30 a.m., except on days when treasury bills are auctioned. In the highly unlikely situation that the government might need to raise same-day funds on a treasury bill auction day, a cash-management bill auction could replace the Receiver General Term Deposit auction, which takes place earlier in the morning, or an additional tranche could be added to the treasury bill auction.

Securities-lending auctions

The deadline for receiving bids in Bank of Canada securities-lending operations will be moved from 11 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., with the release of results at 11:25 a.m. (see the revised version of The Bank of Canada Securities-Lending Program: Terms and Conditions). The call for tenders will occur at 11 a.m. However, on days when a treasury bill operation is already scheduled, the call for tenders will occur at 11:45 a.m., with a bidding deadline of 12 noon and the release of results at 12:10 p.m.