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 1 October 2019:
- 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 August 2019)
| Group 1: | group 2: | Group 3: All B-banks in NBO* (102 banks) |
| DNB Bank ASA** | SpareBank 1 SR-Bank ASA | |
| Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Norge | SpareBank 1 SMN** | |
| Danske Bank ** | Sparebanken Vest | |
| Handelsbanken | SpareBank 1 Østlandet | |
| Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) Oslofilialen | SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge | |
| Swedbank Norge | Sparebanken Sør | |
| Sbanken ASA | ||
| Sparebanken Møre | ||
| Sparebanken Sogn og Fjordane | ||
| Sparebanken Øst | ||
| BNBank ASA | ||
| Storebrand Bank ASA | ||
| Sandnes Sparebank | ||
| BNP Paribas S.A. Norway Branch | ||
| Citibank Europe PLC, Norway Branch |
* Norges Bank settlement system, ** Settlement bank
The quotas that apply as from 1 October 2019 are set on the basis of banks’ total assets as at 30 June 2019. The quotas are distributed as follows (Table 2).
Table 2. Banks’ quotas to be applied as from 1 October 2019. In thousands of NOK
| Sum TA | share ta | Sum quota per group | number banks | quota per bank | |
| Group 1 | 3 522 310 968 | 64.2 % | 28 909 078 | 6 | 4 800 000 |
| Group 2 | 1 076 325 625 | 19.6 % | 8 833 854 | 15 | 590 000 |
| Group 3 | 884 208 451 | 16.1 % | 7 257 068 | 102 | 71 000 |
| Sum | 5 482 845 044 | 100 % | 45 000 000 | 123 |
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 | 4 800 000 | 1 500 000 | 6 300 000 |
| SpareBank 1 SMN | 590 000 | 630 000 | 1 220 000 |
| Danske Bank | 4 800 000 | 100 000 | 4 900 000 |
*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.