Quotas in the system for the management of bank reserves
Under the current system for managing banks' reserves, interest is paid at the key policy rate on a certain portion of the reserves – a quota. Deposits in excess of the quota are remunerated at a lower rate – the reserve rate. Norges Bank will normally assess the total quota and its distribution among banks twice a year.
The following applies as from 3 April 2017:
- Norges Bank will seek to maintain reserves in the banking system at an average NOK 35 billion with a symmetrical interval of ±5 billion around this level.
- The sum of banks' quotas, the total quota, is set at NOK 45 billion.
Banks are divided into three groups where all banks in the same group are assigned the same quota, with the exception of settlement banks which are assigned higher quotas. The banks are divided into groups as follows (Table 1):
Table 1. Division of banks into groups (as of March 2017)
| Group 1: | GROUP 2: | GROUP 3: All B-banks in NBO* (106 banks) |
| DNB Bank ASA** | Sparebanken Hedmark/Bank 1 Oslo Akershus AS | |
| Nordea Bank Norge AB (publ), filial i Norge | BN Bank ASA | |
| Danske Bank NUF** | BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NA Norway Branch | |
| Handelsbanken NUF | Citibank Europe PLC, Norway Branch | |
| SEB AB NUF | Sandnes Sparebank | |
| Swedbank NUF | Skandiabanken ASA | |
| SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge | ||
| SpareBank 1 SMN | ||
| SpareBank 1 SR-Bank | ||
| Sparebanken Møre | ||
| Sparebanken Sogn og Fjordane | ||
| Sparebanken Sør | ||
| Sparebanken Vest | ||
| Sparebanken Øst | ||
| Storebrand Bank ASA |
*Norges Bank's settlement system, **Settlement bank
The quotas that apply as from 3 April 2017 are set on the basis of banks' total assets as at 31 December 2016. The quotas are distributed as follows (Table 2):
Table 2. Banks' quotas to be applied as from 3 April 2017. In thousands of NOK
| Sum TA | Share TA | Sum quota per group |
Number banks | Quota per bank | |
| Group 1 | 3 252 777 075 | 66.4 % | 29 878 767 | 6 | 5 000 000 |
| Group 2 | 924 990 059 | 18.9 % | 8 496 605 | 15 | 570 000 |
| Group 3 | 721 195 656 | 14.7 % | 6 624 628 | 106 | 62 000 |
| Sum | 4 898 962 790 | 100 % | 45 000 000 | 127 |
TA: Total assets
The settlement banks DNB, SpareBank 1 SMN and Danske Bank are assigned quotas as follows (Table 3):
Table 3. Quotas for settlement banks, DNB, SpareBank 1 SMN and Danske Bank*. In thousands of NOK
| Initial quota | Supplement to quota | Sum quota | |
| DNB Bank ASA | 5 000 000 | 1 200 000 | 6 200 000 |
| SpareBank 1 SMN | 570 000 | 600 000 | 1 170 000 |
| Danske Bank | 5 000 000 | - | 5 000 000 |
*Settlement banks are assigned a supplementary quota determined by the size of the settlement bank in relation to the size of the B-banks or equivalent banks for which it executes settlements (as measured by total assets). If the estimated quota for the settlement bank is initially NOK K billion, its total assets NOK X billion and the sum of total assets of the B-banks is NOK Y billion, the settlement bank will be assigned a supplementary quota equal to K x (Y/X), but with an upper limit equal to the sum of the quotas for the B-banks for which it executes settlements. The settlement bank's total quota will normally be equal to K+K x (Y/X).
For a further description of the system for the management of bank reserves, see "Management of bank reserves: The system in Norway".
For a further discussion of the background for the new system, see "Background for the system for the management of bank reserves in Norway".