Collapse on the Treasury website and endless queues at the Bank of Spain due to the barrage of debt purchases

• Debt acquisition Treasury Bills: what they are and how they can be bought

The website of the Spanish

has had to stop its securities purchase and sale operations this Thursday, in a timely manner, due to the avalanche of debt acquisition requests that it has received from individuals.

The interest of retail investors in the purchase of Spanish public debt (especially Treasury bills, but also bonds and obligations), has skyrocketed in recent months due to the attractive interest offered by these products after the rise in interest rates that the European Central Bank (ECB) has undertaken.

An interest that exceeds that offered by banks for their deposits.

The flood of debt purchase requests through the Treasury website, which in January reached

(in all of 2022 it was 432 million), has caused the body to have to stop its operations for a period of time. hour last day and this Thursday.

Sources from the agency have explained to Efe that this strike has been carried out because the Treasury must send the Bank of Spain all the information on the purchase requests made through its website, with the aim of the agency carrying out the corresponding checks. .

Given the large volume of information that the Treasury has to send to the Bank of Spain,

, it has had to stop its service for an hour.

However, as of today, the information will be sent to the Bank of Spain at dawn, according to the same sources.

Despite the halt in operations, Treasury sources have ensured that all applications that have entered correctly for an auction with non-competitive bids (they do not set a specific price for the bills or bonds, only the amount they want) are awarded at the average price weighted.

Mandatory appointment

The purchase of Spanish public debt can be carried out through three channels: the Treasury website (free), bank branches (they charge commission) and those of the Bank of Spain (also free).

Right at the BdE headquarters in Madrid, in recent days there has been a large presence of small investors who are waiting in long lines to buy Spanish public debt.

For this reason, the Bank of Spain has decided that

for the direct account service, which are securities accounts opened in the organization to maintain the balances of the State's debt.

Last January, the Secretary General of the Treasury and International Financing,

, already assured that the organization had observed a renewed interest in the purchase of debt by individuals, domestic financial institutions and non-residents.

Retail investors can purchase Treasury bills at different terms (3,6,9 and 12 months), as well as two, three and five year bonds and obligations with different maturities, although the most common are usually at ten, fifteen and thirty years.

Currently, twelve-month Treasury bills offer a return of 2.983%, and ten-year obligations, around 3.306%.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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