Home
> Monetary Policy
> Quarterly Report on Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Developments
> Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs, 2010
> CLBS Report, March 2010
Print
Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs
and the Balance Sheet
March 2010 (1.27 MB PDF)
| Purpose | Overview | System Open Market Account (SOMA) |
Overview
Recent Developments
- On February 24, 2010, Chairman Ben Bernanke presented the Federal Reserve's semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress and discussed the outlook for the economy and monetary policy, as well as several other important issues. In his testimony, Chairman Bernanke stated that the Federal Reserve would welcome a review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the Federal Reserve's management of all facilities created to help address the financial crisis under the emergency authority of section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. In particular, the Federal Reserve would support legislation authorizing the GAO to audit the operational integrity, collateral policies, use of third-party contractors, accounting, financial reporting, and internal controls of these special credit and liquidity facilities. The Chairman's remarks are available on the Federal Reserve's website at www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20100224a.htm.
- On March 1, 2010, the American International Group, Inc. (AIG) announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the sale of AIA Group, Limited (AIA), to Prudential plc for approximately $35.5 billion, including approximately $25 billion in cash, $8.5 billion in face value of equity and equity-linked securities, and $2.0 billion in face value of preferred stock of Prudential, subject to closing adjustments. On March 8, 2010, AIG announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the sale of American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) to MetLife, Inc. for approximately $15.5 billion, including $6.8 billion in cash and the remainder in equity securities of MetLife, subject to closing adjustments. AIG stated that the cash portion of the proceeds from each sale will be used to redeem the preferred interests held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) in the respective special purpose vehicles (SPVs) established to hold AIA and ALICO. Excess cash proceeds and proceeds from AIG's efforts to monetize the securities received in each transaction will be used to redeem any outstanding preferred interests and then to repay outstanding amounts borrowed under the revolving credit facility with the FRBNY. AIG intends to monetize the securities received in the transaction over time, subject to market conditions, following the lapse of certain minimum holding periods set forth in the definitive agreements entered into with Prudential and Metlife.
- The final Term Auction Facility (TAF) auction was conducted on March 8, 2010; $25 billion in 28-day credit was offered and $3.4 billion was extended at the minimum bid rate of 1/2 percent. TAF credit will remain outstanding until April 8, 2010.
- On March 8, 2010, the FRBNY announced the beginning of a program to expand its counterparties for conducting reverse repurchase agreement transactions ("reverse repos"). This expansion is intended to enhance the capacity of such operations to drain reserves beyond what could likely be conducted through primary dealers, the FRBNY's traditional counterparties. This expansion of counterparties for the reverse repo program is a matter of prudent advance planning, and no inference should be drawn about the timing of any prospective monetary policy operation. Further program parameters will be decided and announced at future dates. The FRBNY statement is available online at www.ny.frb.org/markets/rrppolicy/rrp_operating_policy_100308.html.
- The U.S. Treasury announced on February 23, 2010, that the balance in the Supplementary Financing Program (SFP) would increase from its current level of $5 billion to $200 billion. The SFP was initiated in September 2008 as a tool to assist in offsetting the reserve impact of the Federal Reserve's lending and liquidity initiatives. Increasing the SFP balance will restore the SFP to the level maintained between February and September 2009. The increase will occur across eight weekly $25 billion auctions, each with a 56-day maturity.
- Information related to the Federal Reserve's temporary liquidity programs and facilities that have closed or expired, including the temporary liquidity swap arrangements, the Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (AMLF), the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), and the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), has been moved to a newly created Appendix B at the end of this report.
Table 1. Assets, Liabilities, and Capital of the Federal Reserve System
Billions of dollars
| Item |
Current February 24, 2010 |
Change from January 27, 2010 |
Change from February 25, 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | 2,290 | 40 | 372 |
| Selected assets | |||
| Securities held outright | 1,976 | 66 | 1,394 |
| U.S. Treasury securities1 | 777 | -* | 302 |
| Federal agency debt securities1 | 167 | 3 | 129 |
| Mortgage-backed securities2 | 1,033 | 63 | 964 |
| Memo: Term Securities Lending Facility3 | 0 | 0 | -111 |
| Memo: Overnight securities lending3 | 5 | 1 | +* |
|
Memo: Net commitments to purchase mortgage-backed securities4 |
112 | -21 | 112 |
| Lending to depository and other financial institutions | 30 | -24 | -518 |
| Primary, secondary, and seasonal credit | 15 | -1 | -51 |
| Term auction credit | 15 | -24 | -433 |
| Primary dealer and other broker-dealer credit | 0 | 0 | -25 |
|
Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility |
0 | 0 | -10 |
| Central bank liquidity swaps5 | 0 | -* | -375 |
| Lending through other credit facilities | 54 | -1 | -189 |
|
Net portfolio holdings of Commercial Paper Funding Facility LLC6 |
8 | -1 | -235 |
| Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, net | 46 | 0 | 46 |
| Support for specific institutions | 90 | -1 | -20 |
| Credit extended to American International Group, Inc., net7 | 25 | -1 | -13 |
| Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane LLC8 | 27 | +* | 1 |
| Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane II LLC8 | 15 | 0 | -4 |
| Net portfolio holdings of Maiden Lane III LLC8 | 22 | -* | -6 |
| Net portfolio holdings of TALF LLC9 | * | +* | +* |
|
Preferred interests in AIA Aurora LLC and ALICO Holdings LLC10 |
25 | 0 | 25 |
| Total liabilities | 2,236 | 38 | 360 |
| Selected liabilities | |||
| Federal Reserve notes in circulation | 892 | 14 | 33 |
| Deposits of depository institutions | 1,249 | 138 | 548 |
| U.S. Treasury, general account | 13 | -114 | -12 |
| U.S. Treasury, supplementary financing account | 5 | 0 | -195 |
| Other deposits | 1 | 1 | -8 |
| Total capital | 53 | 1 | 11 |
Note: Unaudited. Components may not sum to totals because of rounding.
* Less than $500 million. Return to table
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 Term Securities Lending Facility and 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 these programs. Return to table
4. Current face value. These generally settle within 180 days and include commitments associated with outright transactions as well as dollar rolls. Return to table
5. 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
6. Includes commercial paper holdings, net, and about $5 billion in other investments. Return to table
7. Excludes credit extended to Maiden Lane II and III LLCs. Return to table
8. Fair value, reflecting values as of December 31, 2009. 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
9. As of February 24, 2010, TALF LLC had purchased no assets from the FRBNY. Return to table
10. Book value. Return to table
* Less than $500 million. Return to table
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 Term Securities Lending Facility and 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 these programs. Return to table
4. Current face value. These generally settle within 180 days and include commitments associated with outright transactions as well as dollar rolls. Return to table
5. 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
6. Includes commercial paper holdings, net, and about $5 billion in other investments. Return to table
7. Excludes credit extended to Maiden Lane II and III LLCs. Return to table
8. Fair value, reflecting values as of December 31, 2009. 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
9. As of February 24, 2010, TALF LLC had purchased no assets from the FRBNY. Return to table
10. Book value. Return to table
Figure 1. Credit and Liquidity Programs and the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet
Last update:
August 2, 2013
