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Central Bank Administered Rates

Central-bank administered rate terms used in policy transmission, bank reserves, liquidity facilities, and bank product pricing.

Central bank administered rates are interest rates set, announced, or directly influenced by a monetary authority, rather than discovered only through private market trading.

Use this branch when a banking rate points back to official policy settings, reserve remuneration, discount facilities, or central-bank lending conditions. These rates can influence bank funding costs and customer pricing, but they do not automatically equal the final rate paid by every borrower or depositor.

Key Terms in This Branch

TermWhat it helps clarify
Bank RateA central-bank lending or policy reference rate used in bank funding and monetary-policy discussion.
Key RateThe main policy rate watched for direction of short-term interest conditions.
Lombard RateA collateralized central-bank lending rate used in some European banking contexts.
Negative Interest Rate PolicyA policy setting in which certain official rates can fall below zero.
Open Market RateA market-facing rate shaped by open-market activity rather than a single customer product.
Wall Street Journal Prime RateA widely cited U.S. prime-rate reference used in some lending contracts.

Reader Checklist

Confirm the jurisdiction, central bank, announcement date, effective date, facility or account type, and whether the rate is a policy target, a lending facility rate, a deposit/reserve rate, or a private-sector reference derived from bank quotes.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating a policy rate as the same thing as a credit-card, mortgage, deposit, or business-loan rate.
  • Comparing central-bank rates across countries without checking currency, facility type, collateral, and banking-system context.
  • Assuming a rate change has the same timing and magnitude across all bank products.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

Bank Rate

The bank rate is a central bank policy rate that influences borrowing costs, savings rates, inflation, and credit conditions.

Key Rate

A key rate is a benchmark interest rate used by a central bank or market to guide borrowing and lending conditions.

Lombard Rate

The Lombard rate is the rate charged by a central bank or lender on secured short-term borrowing against collateral.

Open Market Rate

An open market rate is a market-determined borrowing or lending rate rather than an administratively set policy rate.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026