204.5—Maintenance of required reserves.

(a) (1) A depository institution, a U.S. branch or agency of a foreign bank, and an Edge or Agreement corporation shall maintain required reserves in the form of vault cash and, if vault cash does not fully satisfy the institution's required reserves, in the form of a balance maintained
(i) Directly with the Federal Reserve Bank in the Federal Reserve District in which the institution is located, or
(ii) With a pass-through correspondent in accordance with § 204.5(d).
(2) Each individual institution subject to this part is responsible for satisfying its reserve balance requirement, if any, either directly with a Federal Reserve Bank or through a pass-through correspondent.
(b) (1) For institutions that file a report of deposits weekly, the balances that are required to be maintained with the Federal Reserve shall be maintained during a 14-day maintenance period that begins on the third Thursday following the end of a given computation period.
(2) For institutions that file a report of deposits quarterly, the balances that are required to be maintained with the Federal Reserve shall be maintained during each of the 7-day maintenance periods during the interval that begins on the fourth Thursday following the end of the institution's computation period and ends on the fourth Wednesday after the close of the institution's next computation period.
(c) Cash items forwarded to a Federal Reserve Bank for collection and credit shall not be counted as part of the reserve balance to be carried with the Federal Reserve until the expiration of the time specified in the appropriate time schedule established under Regulation J, “Collection of Checks and Other Items by Federal Reserve Banks and Funds Transfers Through Fedwire” ( 12 CFR part 210 ). If a depository institution draws against items before that time, the charge will be made to its account if the balance is sufficient to pay it; any resulting impairment of reserve balances will be subject to the penalties provided by law and to the reserve-deficiency charges provided by this part. However, the Federal Reserve Bank may, at its discretion, refuse to permit the withdrawal or other use of credit given in an account for any time for which the Federal Reserve Bank has not received payment in actually and finally collected funds.
(d) (1) A depository institution, a U.S. branch or agency of a foreign bank, or an Edge or Agreement corporation required to maintain reserve balances (“respondent”) may select only one pass-through correspondent institution to pass through its required reserve balances, unless otherwise permitted by the Federal Reserve Bank in whose District the respondent is located. Eligible pass-through correspondent institutions are Federal Home Loan Banks, the National Credit Union Administration Central Liquidity Facility, depository institutions, U.S. branches or agencies of foreign banks, and Edge and Agreement corporations that maintain required reserve balances, which may be zero, at a Federal Reserve Bank. In addition, the Board reserves the right to permit other institutions, on a case-by-case basis, to serve as pass-through correspondents. The correspondent chosen must subsequently pass through the required reserve balances of its respondents directly to a Federal Reserve Bank. The correspondent placing funds with a Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of respondents will be responsible for account maintenance as described in paragraph (d)(4) of this section.
(2) Respondents or correspondents may institute, terminate, or change pass-through agreements for the maintenance of required reserve balances by providing all documentation required for the establishment of the new agreement or termination of the existing agreement to the Federal Reserve Banks involved within the time period provided for such a change by those Reserve Banks.
(3) A correspondent that passes through required reserve balances of respondents shall maintain such balances, along with the correspondent's own required reserve balances (if any), in a single commingled account at the Federal Reserve Bank in whose District the correspondent is located. The balances held by the correspondent in an account at a Reserve Bank are the property of the correspondent and represent a liability of the Reserve Bank solely to the correspondent, regardless of whether the funds represent the reserve balances of another institution that have been passed through the correspondent.
(4) (i) A pass-through correspondent shall be responsible for assuring the maintenance of the appropriate aggregate level of its respondents' required reserve balances. A Federal Reserve Bank will compare the total reserve balance required to be maintained with the total actual reserve balance held in such account for purposes of determining required-reserve deficiencies, imposing or waiving charges for deficiencies in required reserves, and for other reserve maintenance purposes. A charge for a deficiency in the aggregate level of the required reserve balance will be imposed by the Reserve Bank on the correspondent maintaining the account.
(ii) Each correspondent is required to maintain detailed records for each of its respondents in a manner that permits Reserve Banks to determine whether the respondent has provided a sufficient required reserve balance to the correspondent. A correspondent passing through a respondent's required reserve balance shall maintain records and make such reports as the Board or Reserve Bank requires in order to ensure the correspondent's compliance with its responsibilities for the maintenance of a respondent's reserve balance. Such records shall be available to the Reserve Banks as required.
(iii) The Federal Reserve Bank may terminate any pass-through agreement under which the correspondent is deficient in its recordkeeping or other responsibilities.
(iv) Interest paid on supplemental reserves (if such reserves are required under § 204.7) held by a respondent will be credited to the account maintained by the correspondent.
(e) Any excess or deficiency in an institution's required reserve balance shall be carried over and applied against the balance maintained in the next maintenance period as specified in this paragraph. The amount of any such excess or deficiency that is carried over shall not exceed the greater of:
(1) The amount obtained by multiplying 0.04 times the sum of depository institution's required reserves and the depository institution's contractual clearing balance, if any, and then subtracting from this product the depository institution's clearing balance allowance, if any; or
(2) $50,000, minus the depository institution's clearing balance allowance, if any. Any carryover not offset during the next period may not be carried over to subsequent periods.

Code of Federal Regulations

[Reg. D, 74 FR 25638, May 29, 2009]