This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document 01998R2531-20020126
Minimum reserves
Regulation (EU) 2021/378 on the application of minimum reserve requirements (recast) (ECB/2021/1)
The regulations establish the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve* framework and lay down rules for the holding of minimum reserves by credit institutions* and their branches in the euro area.
They regulate all relevant aspects, from determining the actual reserve ratio, to the maintenance and remuneration of minimum reserves and the relevant reporting and verification of data. They also provide for exemptions from minimum reserve requirements and the power to impose sanctions.
Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 determines the basis and ratios for minimum reserves and establishes the right of the European Central Bank (ECB) to collect and verify information necessary for the application of minimum reserves. It also enables the ECB to impose sanctions on an institution for not complying with statistical reporting requirements or failing to hold sufficient minimum reserves.
Regulation (EU) 2021/378 regulates the minimum reserve holdings and provides the formulas to be used by euro-area credit institutions to calculate the minimum reserves which are to be held in euro reserve accounts with their EU Member States’ national central banks (NCBs).
The ECB publishes on its website the list of institutions subject to the Eurosystem’s minimum reserve requirements. The institutions whose authorisation has been withdrawn or renounced and those subject to winding-up proceedings are exempted from the minimum reserve requirements. Further exemptions may be granted to institutions:
The euro-area credit institutions subject to the minimum reserve requirements calculate their own reserve base* (if this is not done by the NCBs) using their statistical information on deposits and debt securities issued. They may hold their minimum reserves indirectly through an intermediary which is resident in the same Member State, is subject to minimum reserve requirements and normally carries out certain administrative tasks.
The NCBs notify the credit institutions on the minimum reserves they should hold (if the NCB does the calculation) or acknowledge the minimum reserves calculated by the institutions themselves.
They also remunerate holdings of minimum reserves according to Regulation (EU) 2021/378 and have the right to verify the accuracy and quality of the information on the reserve base provided by the institutions.
Specific rules come into play when:
Council Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the application of minimum reserves by the European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, pp. 1–3)
Successive amendments to Regulation (EC) No 2531/98 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.
Regulation (EU) 2021/378 of the European Central Bank of 22 January 2021 on the application of minimum reserve requirements (recast) (ECB/2021/1) (OJ L 73, 3.3.2021, pp. 1–15)
Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – Protocol (No 4) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016, pp. 230–250)
Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms, amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, pp. 338–436)
Council Regulation (EC) No 2532/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the powers of the European Central Bank to impose sanctions (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, pp.4–7)
See consolidated version.
last update 02.07.2021