Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary Base - H.3

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Release Date: August 20, 2020
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For release at
4:30 p.m. Eastern Time
August 20, 2020

H.3 (502)

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Consolidation of the H.3 and H.6 Statistical Releases​

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As announced on March 15, 2020, the Board of Governors reduced reserve requirement ratios on net transaction accounts to 0 percent, effective March 26, 2020. This action eliminated reserve requirements for all depository institutions. As a result, many of the release items on the Board's Statistical Release H.3, "Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary Base," are zero. Consequently, the Board has decided to consolidate the remaining relevant items from the H.3 statistical release onto Statistical Release H.6, "Money Stock Measures."

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The H.3 release items that will be consolidated onto the H.6 statistical release include the monetary base and nonborrowed reserves and their components. The components to be moved are (1) "Currency in circulation" and "Total balances maintained" for the monetary base and (2) "Total reserves" and "Total borrowings from the Federal Reserve" for nonborrowed reserves.

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The last H.3 statistical release will be published on September 17, 2020. The first H.6 statistical release containing the monetary base and nonborrowed reserves will be published on September 24, 2020. On this same release, columns labeled "Traveler's checks" will be removed from the H.6 statistical release.

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For a template of the first page of the consolidated H.6 statistical release, along with supplemental information on the consolidation, see the Technical Q&As associated with each release. Access to historical data for all H.3 release items will remain available through the Data Download Program (DDP). In addition, the H.3 release items being consolidated onto the H.6 statistical release will be available in the DDP in both the "build your own" and preformatted packages associated with the H.6 statistical release. Further refinements to the preformatted packages for the H.6 statistical release will also be made. The 12 "H.6 historical table" preformatted packages will no longer be available; all data elements of these packages are contained in the monthly or weekly "H.6 statistical release" packages.

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Table 1

Not seasonally adjusted. Millions of dollars unless otherwise noted.
Date Reserve balances required Reserve balances maintained 4
Reserve balance
requirements 1		 Top of penalty-
free band 2		 Bottom of penalty-
free band 3		 Total Balances
maintained to
satisfy reserve
balance
requirements 5		 Balances
maintained that
exceed the top of
the penalty-
free band 6
Month 7
July 2019 135,103 148,624 121,584 1,513,550 148,191 1,365,359
Aug. 2019 134,639 148,114 121,167 1,520,876 147,555 1,373,321
Sept. 2019 134,707 148,188 121,227 1,439,771 147,498 1,292,273
Oct. 2019 134,998 148,509 121,489 1,481,513 148,050 1,333,462
Nov. 2019 140,705 154,787 126,625 1,529,341 154,256 1,375,085
Dec. 2019 138,984 152,893 125,076 1,630,090 152,562 1,477,528
Jan. 2020 144,816 159,309 130,326 1,645,384 158,765 1,486,619
Feb. 2020 138,370 152,218 124,524 1,656,989 151,612 1,505,377
Mar. 2020 113,139 124,461 101,817 2,045,148 124,147 1,921,000
Apr. 2020 0 0 0 2,953,586 0 2,953,586
May 2020 0 0 0 3,217,635 0 3,217,635
June 2020 0 0 0 3,043,556 0 3,043,556
July 2020 0 0 0 2,718,529 0 2,718,529
 
Two weeks ending 8
June 17, 2020 0 0 0 3,130,360 0 3,130,360
July 1, 2020 0 0 0 2,901,788 0 2,901,788
July 15, 2020 0 0 0 2,795,785 0 2,795,785
July 29, 2020 0 0 0 2,623,526 0 2,623,526
Aug. 12, 2020 0 0 0 2,751,124 0 2,751,124

Footnotes

  1. Equals required reserves (table 2, column 2) less vault cash used to satisfy required reserves (table 2, column 4).
  2. Equals the sum of each institution's top of the penalty-free band. For each institution, the top of the penalty-free band is equal to the institution's reserve balance requirement plus an amount that is the greater of 10 percent of the institution's reserve balance requirement or $50,000.
  3. Equals the sum of each institution's bottom of the penalty-free band. For each institution, the bottom of the penalty-free band is equal to the institution's reserve balance requirement less an amount that is the greater of 10 percent of the institution's reserve balance requirement or $50,000.
  4. Effective February 18, 2014, omits balances held by designated financial market utilities. These balances are reported in the H.4.1 statistical release.
  5. Equals the sum of balances maintained up to the top of each institution's penalty-free band.
  6. Equals the sum of balances maintained that exceed the top of each institution's penalty-free band.
  7. Prorated averages of biweekly averages.
  8. Averages of daily figures.

Note on the Elimination of Reserve Requirements

The Board reduced the reserve requirement ratios on net transaction accounts to 0 percent, effective March 26, 2020. As a result, release items reported under "Reserve balances required" (reserve balance requirements and the top and bottom of penalty-free band) and "Balances maintained to satisfy reserve balance requirements" are zero beginning with the two weeks ending April 8, 2020.

Table 2

Not seasonally adjusted. Millions of dollars.
Date Reserves Vault cash 2 Monetary base
Total 1 Required Total Used to satisfy
required
reserves 3		 Surplus 4 Total 5 Total balances
maintained 6		 Currency in
circulation
Month 7
July 2019 1,578,615 200,169 76,485 65,065 11,420 3,260,316 1,513,550 1,746,765
Aug. 2019 1,586,844 200,608 78,451 65,969 12,483 3,271,378 1,520,876 1,750,502
Sept. 2019 1,504,805 199,741 76,550 65,035 11,516 3,202,668 1,439,771 1,762,898
Oct. 2019 1,547,136 200,621 76,660 65,623 11,037 3,252,807 1,481,513 1,771,294
Nov. 2019 1,595,222 206,586 76,921 65,881 11,040 3,315,551 1,529,341 1,786,209
Dec. 2019 1,698,344 207,239 80,168 68,255 11,914 3,426,464 1,630,090 1,796,375
Jan. 2020 1,715,219 214,652 81,215 69,835 11,379 3,442,569 1,645,384 1,797,185
Feb. 2020 1,726,943 208,324 80,732 69,954 10,778 3,454,474 1,656,989 1,797,485
Mar. 2020 2,099,369 167,360 77,111 54,222 22,889 3,883,155 2,045,148 1,838,007
Apr. 2020 2,953,586 0 88,100 0 88,100 4,844,940 2,953,586 1,891,355
May 2020 3,217,635 0 101,340 0 101,340 5,149,527 3,217,635 1,931,891
June 2020 3,043,556 0 104,196 0 104,196 5,001,978 3,043,556 1,958,422
July 2020 2,718,529 0 98,387 0 98,387 4,700,389 2,718,529 1,981,861
 
Two weeks ending 8
June 17, 2020 3,130,360 0 103,770 0 103,770 5,085,807 3,130,360 1,955,447
July 1, 2020 2,901,788 0 105,304 0 105,304 4,866,046 2,901,788 1,964,259
July 15, 2020 2,795,785 0 99,454 0 99,454 4,772,522 2,795,785 1,976,737
July 29, 2020 2,623,526 0 97,221 0 97,221 4,609,182 2,623,526 1,985,656
Aug. 12, 2020 2,751,124 0 95,634 0 95,634 4,751,087 2,751,124 1,999,963

Footnotes

  1. Equals total reserve balances maintained (table 1, column 4) plus vault cash used to satisfy required reserves.
  2. Vault cash eligible to satisfy reserve requirements. It includes only vault cash held by institutions not exempt from reserve requirements. Dates refer to the maintenance periods for which the vault cash can be used to satisfy reserve requirements.
  3. All vault cash held during the lagged computation period by "bound" institutions (that is, those whose required reserves exceed their vault cash) plus the amount of vault cash applied during the maintenance period by "nonbound" institutions (that is, those whose vault cash exceeds their required reserves) to satisfy current reserve requirements.
  4. Total vault cash eligible to satisfy reserve requirements, held by institutions not exempt from reserve requirements, minus the amount used to satisfy reserve requirements.
  5. Equals total balances maintained plus currency in circulation.
  6. Effective February 18, 2014, omits balances held by designated financial market utilities. These balances are reported in the H.4.1 statistical release.
  7. Prorated averages of biweekly averages.
  8. Averages of daily figures.

Note on the Elimination of Reserve Requirements

The Board reduced the reserve requirement ratios on net transaction accounts to 0 percent, effective March 26, 2020. As a result, required reserves and vault cash used to satisfy required reserves are zero beginning with the two weeks ending April 8, 2020.

Table 3

Not seasonally adjusted. Millions of dollars.
Date Borrowings from the Federal Reserve Nonborrowed
reserves 2
Total Primary Secondary Seasonal Other credit
extensions 1
Month 3
July 2019 120 9 0 111 0 1,578,495
Aug. 2019 117 16 0 101 0 1,586,727
Sept. 2019 101 15 0 86 0 1,504,704
Oct. 2019 63 4 0 59 0 1,547,073
Nov. 2019 26 4 0 22 0 1,595,196
Dec. 2019 21 10 0 11 0 1,698,323
Jan. 2020 6 5 0 1 0 1,715,213
Feb. 2020 3 3 0 0 0 1,726,939
Mar. 2020 40,554 19,538 0 0 21,015 2,058,816
Apr. 2020 124,461 38,299 0 0 86,162 2,829,125
May 2020 111,845 22,180 0 2 89,663 3,105,791
June 2020 97,671 8,456 0 11 89,204 2,945,885
July 2020 92,943 4,670 0 26 88,248 2,625,585
 
Two weeks ending 4
June 17, 2020 98,003 8,596 0 11 89,396 3,032,357
July 1, 2020 95,422 6,500 0 13 88,910 2,806,366
July 15, 2020 94,326 5,055 0 21 89,251 2,701,459
July 29, 2020 92,428 4,376 0 31 88,021 2,531,099
Aug. 12, 2020 85,636 3,111 0 37 82,488 2,665,489

Footnotes

  1. Includes borrowings associated with facilities other than the primary, secondary, and seasonal credit lending programs. Detail on borrowings contained in this item is available under "Loans" in table 1 of the H.4.1 statistical release.
  2. Equals total reserves (table 2, column 1) less total borrowings from the Federal Reserve.
  3. Prorated averages of biweekly averages.
  4. Averages of daily figures.
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Last Update: August 20, 2020