Quarterly Report on Federal Reserve
Balance Sheet Developments
Abbreviations | Overview | Monetary Policy Tools |
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 October 30, 2013.
Federal Reserve and Other Central Banks Announce Standing Liquidity Swap Lines
- On October 31, 2013, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank announced that their existing temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements are being converted to standing arrangements that will remain in place until further notice. The standing arrangements will constitute a network of bilateral swap lines among the six central banks that allow provision of liquidity in each jurisdiction in any of the five currencies foreign to that jurisdiction. Additional information is available at www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20131031a.htm.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Begins Fixed-Rate Reverse Repurchase Exercise
- On September 23, 2013, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) began conducting as a technical exercise a series of daily overnight reverse repurchase (reverse repo) transactions with all eligible counterparties using Treasury collateral. These operations may potentially extend through January 29, 2014, and are being conducted using a fixed-rate format in which bids by participating institutions are awarded in full (up to a maximum bid amount) at a predetermined interest rate. While this exercise may be somewhat larger than past operational exercises, these types of transactions are conducted as a matter of prudent advance planning by the Federal Reserve. They are intended to provide operational experience with larger transactional flows and additional information about how such operations might improve interest rate control regardless of the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet. They do not represent a change in the stance of monetary policy, and no inference should be drawn about the timing of any change in the stance of monetary policy in the future. Additional details and the results of these operations are available on the FRBNY's website at www.newyorkfed.org/markets/op_policies.html.
Federal Reserve Board Publishes Quarterly Financial Report
- On November 22, 2013, the Federal Reserve Board published the "Federal Reserve Banks Combined Quarterly Financial Report" for the third 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 October 30, 2013 |
Change from July 24, 2013 |
Change from October 31, 2012 |
---|---|---|---|
Total assets | 3,843 | +269 | +1,020 |
Selected assets | |||
Securities held outright | 3,571 | +273 | +991 |
U.S. Treasury securities 1 | 2,118 | +148 | +472 |
Federal agency debt securities1 | 59 | -7 | -23 |
Mortgage-backed securities 2 | 1,394 | +133 | +542 |
Memo: Overnight securities lending 3 | 19 | +12 | +9 |
Memo: Net commitments to purchase mortgage-backed securities 4 | 72 | -2 | -34 |
Unamortized premiums on securities held outright 5 | 205 | +1 | +46 |
Unamortized discounts on securities held outright5 | -8 | -5 | -7 |
Lending to depository institutions 6 | * | -* | +* |
Central bank liquidity swaps 7 | * | -1 | -13 |
Lending through the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) 8 | * | -* | -1 |
Net portfolio holdings of TALF LLC 9 | * | -* | -1 |
Support for specific institutions 10 | 2 | +* | -* |
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane LLC10 | 2 | +* | -* |
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane II LLC10 | * | -* | +* |
Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane III LLC10 | * | -* | -* |
Foreign currency denominated assets 11 | 24 | +1 | -1 |
Total liabilities | 3,789 | +269 | +1,020 |
Selected liabilities | |||
Federal Reserve notes in circulation | 1,176 | +24 | +76 |
Term deposits held by depository institutions | 0 | -12 | 0 |
Other deposits held by depository institutions | 2,435 | +336 | +1,001 |
U.S. Treasury, general account | 31 | -20 | -69 |
Other deposits | 15 | -86 | -3 |
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. The current face value shown is the remaining principal balance of the securities. 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 October 30, 2013, TALF LLC had purchased no assets from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Return to table
10. Fair value, reflecting values as of September 30, 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