Quarterly Report on Federal Reserve
Balance Sheet Developments

Federal Reserve Banks' Financial Information

The Federal Reserve publishes annual audited financial statements and quarterly unaudited financial reports presenting summary information on the combined financial position and results of operations of the Reserve Banks. The combined information includes the accounts and results of operations of the 12 Reserve Banks and several consolidated variable interest entities. Annual audited financial statements are available on the Federal Reserve Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedfinancials.htm, and quarterly unaudited financial reports are available at www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedfinancials.htm#quarterly.

Recent Developments

• On March 18, 2016, the Federal Reserve Board released the 2015 annual audited financial statements for the combined Federal Reserve Banks, the 12 individual Reserve Banks, Maiden Lane LLC, and the Board of Governors. The Federal Reserve System financial statements are available on the Federal Reserve Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedfinancials.htm.
• The average daily balance of the Federal Reserve SOMA holdings was approximately $4.2 trillion during 2015. Net earnings from the portfolio were approximately $112.0 billion (inclusive of $113.6 billion of interest income, $1.4 billion of unrealized losses, and $0.2 billion of interest expense); most of the earnings were attributable to interest income on Treasury securities and federal agency and GSE MBS.
• The FAST Act, which was enacted on December 4, 2015, amended section 7 of the Federal Reserve Act related to Reserve Bank surplus and the payment of dividends to member banks. Effective December 4, 2015, the FAST Act limits aggregate Reserve Bank surplus to $10 billion. The Reserve Banks provided for remittances to the U.S. Treasury of $117.1 billion, inclusive of a $19.3 billion remittance to the U.S. Treasury on December 28, 2015, which was the amount necessary to reduce aggregate Reserve Bank surplus to the $10 billion surplus limit in the FAST Act.
• Effective January 1, 2016, the FAST Act changed the dividend rate for member banks with more than $10 billion of consolidated assets to the smaller of 6 percent or the rate equal to the high yield of the 10-year Treasury note auctioned at the last auction held prior to the payment of the dividend. The FAST Act did not change the 6 percent dividend rate for member banks with $10 billion or less of total consolidated assets.

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