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Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
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Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Quarterly Report on Federal Reserve
Balance Sheet Developments

August 2013 (425 KB PDF)

Overview

Recent Developments

The Overview section of this report highlights recent developments in the operations of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tools, and presents data describing changes in the assets, liabilities, and total capital of the Federal Reserve System as of July 24, 2013.

Federal Reserve Board Publishes Quarterly Financial Report
  • On August 23, 2013, the Federal Reserve Board published the "Federal Reserve Banks Combined Quarterly Financial Report" for the second quarter of 2013, which includes summary information on the combined financial position and results of operations of the 12 Reserve Banks and several consolidated variable interest entities (VIEs). All financial information included in the report is unaudited. The report is available on the Federal Reserve Board's website at www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedfinancials.htm#quarterly.
Federal Reserve System Selected Assets, Liabilities, and Total Capital

Table 1 reports selected assets and liabilities and total capital of the Federal Reserve System and presents the change in these components over selected intervals. The Federal Reserve publishes its complete balance sheet each week in the H.4.1 statistical release, "Factors Affecting Reserve Balances of Depository Institutions and Consolidated Statement of Condition of Reserve Banks," available at www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/.

Figure 1 displays the levels of selected Federal Reserve assets and liabilities, securities holdings, and credit extended through liquidity facilities since April 2010.

Table 1. Assets, liabilities, and capital of the Federal Reserve System
Billions of dollars

Item Current
July 24, 2013
Change from
May 1, 2013
Change from
July 25, 2012
Total assets 3,575 +257 +728
Selected assets
Securities held outright 3,297 +256 +702
U.S. Treasury securities 1 1,970 +122 +319
Federal agency debt securities1 67 -6 -25
Mortgage-backed securities 2 1,261 +139 +408
Memo: Overnight securities lending 3 8 -16 -2
Memo: Net commitments to purchase mortgage-backed securities 4 73 -19 +42
       
Unamortized premiums on securities held outright 5 205 +8 +61
Unamortized discounts on securities held outright5 -3 -1 -1
       
Lending to depository institutions 6 * +* +*
       
Central bank liquidity swaps 7 1 -7 -26
       
Lending through the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility 8 * -* -3
       
Net portfolio holdings of TALF LLC 9 * -* -1
       
Support for specific institutions 10 2 -* -8
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane LLC10 1 -* -1
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane II LLC10 * -* +*
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane III LLC10 * -* -7
       
Foreign currency denominated assets 11 24 -* -1
       
Total liabilities 3,520 +258 +727
Selected liabilities
Federal Reserve notes in circulation 1,152 +12 +82
Term deposits held by depository institutions 12 +1 +9
Other deposits held by depository institutions 2,099 +286 +531
U.S. Treasury, general account 51 -134 +13
Other deposits 100 +93 +90
       
Total capital 55 -* +*

 Note: Unaudited. Components may not sum to totals because of rounding.

 * Less than $500 million.

1. Face value. Return to table

2. Guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. Current face value, which is the remaining principal balance of the underlying mortgages. Does not include unsettled transactions. Return to table

3. Securities loans under the overnight facility are off-balance-sheet transactions. These loans are shown here as a memo item to indicate the portion of securities held outright that have been lent through this program. Return to table

4. Current face value. Includes commitments associated with outright purchases, dollar rolls, and coupon swaps. Return to table

5. Reflects the premium or discount, which is the difference between the purchase price and the face value of the securities that has not been amortized. For U.S. Treasury and Federal agency debt securities, amortization is on a straight-line basis. For mortgage-backed securities, amortization is on an effective-interest basis. Return to table

6. Total of primary, secondary, and seasonal credit. Return to table

7. Dollar value of the foreign currency held under these agreements valued at the exchange rate to be used when the foreign currency is returned to the foreign central bank. Return to table

8. Book value. Return to table

9. As of July 24, 2013, TALF LLC had purchased no assets from the FRBNY. Return to table

10. Fair value, reflecting values as of March 31, 2013. Fair value reflects an estimate of the price that would be received upon selling an asset if the transaction were to be conducted in an orderly market on the measurement date. Fair values are updated quarterly. Return to table

11. Revalued daily at current foreign currency exchange rates. Return to table

Figure 1. Credit and liquidity programs and the Federal Reserve's balance sheet

Figure 1. Credit and liquidity programs and the Federal Reserve's balance sheet

Accessible version

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Last update: September 12, 2013