Calculation of minimum reserve requirements

The amount used as the basis for calculating a bank’s minimum reserve requirements (i.e. the reserve base) must include all liabilities arising from taking in funds from other parties (regardless of maturity and currency), which are:

  • deposits
  • own issues or debt securities

The reserve base does not include banks’ liabilities vis-à-vis other banks subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve requirements (above all interbank deposits) as well as liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB and the national central banks.

The banks required to hold minimum reserves calculate their reserve base at the end of each month and report it to the OeNB.

Reserve ratio

The minimum reserve system applies a positive reserve coefficient and a coefficient of 0. The coefficients are set by the ECB and can range from 0% to 10%. The positive coefficient used to be 2% until December 2011, when it was lowered to 1%.

The 1% coefficient applies to:

  • deposits (overnight deposits and deposits with an agreed maturity or period of notice of up to 2 years)
  • own issues and debt securities issued with a maturity of up to 2 years

The 0% coefficient applies to:

  • deposits with an agreed maturity or period of notice of over 2 years
  • repos
  • own issues and debt securities issued with a maturity of over 2 years

This table provides an overview of the reserve base in Austria over time.

Minimum reserve requirement

Banks’ minimum reserve requirements are calculated by applying the reserve ratio to the minimum reserve base. Each bank may then deduct a lump sum allowance of EUR 100,000 from this amount, and the resulting reserve requirement is the actual amount of reserves they must hold with the central bank.

This table provides an overview of the minimum reserve requirements Austrian banks have had to fulfill over the past few years.