Under the current system for managing banks reserves, banks receive interest only on a specific portion of reserves – a quota – equivalent to the key policy rate. Deposits in excess of the quota bear lower interest – equivalent to the reserve rate. Norges Bank will normally assess the total quota and its distribution among banks twice annually.

The following applies from 1 October 2012:

• Norges Bank will seek to maintain reserves in the banking system at an average NOK 35 billion with a symmetrical interval ±5 billion around this level.
• The sum of banks' quotas, the total quota, is set at NOK 45 billion.
• The reserve rate is 100 basis points below the sight deposit rate.

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. As from September 2012, banks will be divided into groups as follows (Table 1):

Table 1. Division of banks into groups (as from September2012)

*Norges Bank’s settlement system, **Settlement bank

The quotas that apply from 1 October 2012 are set on the basis of banks' total assets as at 30 June 2012. The quotas are distributed as follows (Table 2):

Table 2. Banks' quotas to be applied from 1 October 2012. In thousands of NOK
TA: Total assets

Settlement banks are assigned quotas as follows (Table 3):

Table 3. Quotas for settlement banks, DNB and SpareBank 1SMN*. In thousands of NOK

*Settlement banks are assigned a supplementary quota determined by the size of the settlement bank in relation to the size of the second-tier 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 second-tier 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 second-tier 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 new 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.