Quotas in the system for the management of bank reserves
[NOT IN FORCE]
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 1 April 2015:
- 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 2015)
| Group 1: | Group 2: |
Group 3: All B-banks in NBO* (109 banks) |
| DNB Bank ASA** | Sparebank 1 SR Bank | |
| Nordea Bank Norge ASA | Sparebanken Vest | |
| Danske Bank NUF | Sparebank 1 SMN** | |
| Handelsbanken NUF | Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge | |
| SEB AB NUF | Sparebanken Hedmark | |
| Swedbank NUF | Sparebanken Møre | |
| Storebrand Bank ASA | ||
| Sparebanken Sør | ||
| BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV Norwegian Branch | ||
| BN Bank ASA | ||
| Skandiabanken AB NUF | ||
| Bank 1 Oslo Akershus | ||
| Sandnes Sparebank | ||
| Sparebanken Øst | ||
| Citibank NUF |
The quotas that apply as from 1 April 2015 are set on the basis of banks' total assets as at 31 December 2014. The quotas are distributed as follows (Table 2):
Table 2. Banks' quotas to be applied as from 1 April 2015. In thousands of NOK
| Sum TA | Share TA | Sum quota per group | Number banks | Quota per bank | |
| Group 1 | 3 135 772 185 | 67.8 % | 30 504 552 | 6 | 5 100 000 |
| Group 2 | 861 361 199 | 18.6 % | 8 379 256 | 15 | 560 000 |
| Group 3 | 628 725 342 | 13.6 % | 6 116 192 | 109 | 56 000 |
| Sum | 4 625 858 726 | 100 % | 45 000 000 | 130 |
TA: Total assets
Settlement banks are assigned quotas as follows (Table 3):
Table 3. Quotas for settlement banks, DNB and SpareBank 1 SMN*. In thousands of NOK
| Initial quota | Supplement to quota | Sum quota | |
| DNB Bank ASA | 5 100 000 | 1 100 000 | 6 200 000 |
| Sparebank 1 SMN | 560 000 | 590 000 | 1 150 000 |
*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.