Today, the Bank of Canada is announcing its plan to restart routine purchases of Government of Canada (GoC) treasury bills for normal balance sheet management purposes. The addition of treasury bill purchases will help restore a more balanced mix of assets on the Bank’s balance sheet.
In March 2025, the Bank resumed asset purchases after it ended quantitative tightening, beginning with the regular term repo program as part of normal balance sheet management. The Bank also communicated that treasury bill purchases would resume later this year.
The Bank will resume purchases of treasury bills effective December 16, 2025, with purchases being conducted in the primary market at GoC auctions on a non-competitive basis. Starting December 9, 2025, the Bank will disclose its intended purchase amounts in advance of each treasury bill auction with these amounts being communicated to market participants in the final call for tender for each auction. Actual amounts purchased will be communicated shortly after each operation with the auction results can be found on the Regular Treasury Bills page.
In steady state, the Bank will hold a mix of GoC treasury bills, GoC bonds and term repos on its balance sheet. The Bank will aim to have the amount of the floating-rate assets, comprised mostly of term repos and treasury bills, broadly matching the amount of floating-rate liabilities, which include settlement balances.1
Further information on the upcoming treasury bill auctions and auction results can be found on the Regular Treasury Bills page.
Purchases of GoC bonds for normal balance sheet management will likely not need to start until 2027, based on current projections for the Bank’s future asset needs. As was previously communicated, when they begin, these purchases will be conducted in the secondary market. A subsequent market notice containing the operational details for these operations will be published well in advance.
For further information, please contact:
Director
Financial Markets Department
Director
Financial Markets Department