Norges Bank Circular 3/2026: New Reserve Quotas From 1 October

On 1 September 2026 Norges Bank published Circular 3/2026, and from 1 October 2026 it sets the reserve quotas that decide how much of each counterparty bank’s overnight deposit at the central bank earns the key policy rate. Deposits up to a bank’s quota are remunerated at the policy rate. Anything above the quota earns the lower reserve rate. That single boundary determines how overnight reserves are remunerated, and this circular moves it.

The headline numbers hold steady. Norges Bank still aims to keep reserves in the banking system at an average of NOK 35 billion, inside a symmetrical band of plus or minus NOK 5 billion, and the total quota shared across all monetary policy counterparties stays at NOK 45 billion. What changes underneath is the split: the 94 monetary policy counterparties are divided into three groups, and each group’s aggregate quota is set by that group’s share of aggregate total assets as of 30 June 2026. Banks within a group receive the same standard quota, except that settlement banks receive a supplementary quota. For most banks the new figure is close to the old one, but “close” is not “same”, and the reconciliation still has to be done before the first settlement day in October.

This is a recalibration on Norges Bank’s normal twice-a-year cycle, not a redesign of the framework. It matters because the quota is the price signal that pushes banks to redistribute reserves among themselves in the market, and because the reserve position feeds directly into the liquidity metrics that Finanstilsynet supervises.

Related reading: our note on Norges Bank’s countercyclical buffer and reciprocity.

The dates that decide your 1 October reserve position

A quota reset is a calendar event before it is anything else. The circular pins four dates that a treasury and reporting team should already have in the plan.

• 1 September 2026: Circular 3/2026 published (10:00).
• 30 June 2026: the reference date for the total-assets figures that set each bank’s new quota.
• 1 October 2026: the new quotas take effect; the first settlement day in October is the first day the revised remuneration boundary applies.
• Twice a year: Norges Bank normally reassesses the total quota and its distribution among banks, typically around the start of March and the start of September, using the previous quarter-end asset data.

The October quotas use total assets as of 30 June 2026. Under Norges Bank’s published framework, quotas announced on 1 September normally apply from 1 October using end-second-quarter total assets. Norges Bank may also change quotas at other times if it considers that necessary.

How the reserve quota splits your deposits between two rates

The system that Circular 3/2026 feeds into has two moving parts. First, Norges Bank keeps the total quantity of reserves in the banking system near a target level, supplying liquidity through F-loans against collateral when reserves run short and withdrawing it through F-deposits, or through central bank certificates, when reserves run high. Second, each bank is remunerated at the policy rate on a set quantity of reserves, its quota, and at the lower reserve rate on anything held above it.

The reason for the two-tier design is behavioural. If every krone of reserves earned the policy rate, a bank with surplus liquidity would have no reason to lend it to a bank that is short. By capping the policy-rate portion at the quota, Norges Bank gives the surplus bank an incentive to place the excess in the overnight market instead of accepting the reserve rate. That interbank redistribution is what keeps the money market functioning and strengthens the system’s ability to absorb a liquidity shock without an extraordinary supply of central bank liquidity.

Here is the point that trips up newcomers to the Norwegian framework: the quota is a pricing threshold on your existing deposit. A bank can hold reserves well above its quota overnight. The quota only sets where the remuneration steps down from the policy rate to the reserve rate; it does not cap a settlement or force a transaction.

The standing overnight lending facility, the D-loan, sits on the other side of the same structure and is normally priced above the policy rate. Together the reserve rate below and the D-loan rate above form the corridor that keeps very short-term money-market rates anchored around the policy rate.

What Circular 3/2026 recalibrates

The circular divides the monetary policy counterparties into three groups, and every bank in a group receives the same quota, with settlement banks assigned a supplement on top. The 30 June 2026 total-assets data produces the following allocation from 1 October 2026:

• Group 1: 7 banks, NOK 4.4 billion each. This group holds around 69 percent of the aggregate total assets of the counterparties.
• Group 2: 12 banks, NOK 630 million each, about 17 percent of aggregate total assets.
• Group 3: 75 banks, NOK 85 million each, about 14 percent of aggregate total assets.

Those 94 banks hold roughly NOK 7.8 trillion in combined total assets, and their quotas sum to the NOK 45 billion total. Set against the previous review, Circular 1/2026, which took effect on 1 April 2026 off 31 December 2025 balance sheets, the shape is familiar but not identical. The total quota and the NOK 35 billion target band are unchanged. Group 3 has one fewer member, down from 76 counterparties to 75, and the standard per-bank quotas in Groups 2 and 3 were trimmed marginally as the asset shares shifted. Compared with Circular 1/2026, the total quota and reserve target are unchanged, while the group allocations have been recalculated using 30 June 2026 total assets in accordance with Norges Bank’s published quota framework.

For a bank that moved between groups, the effect is larger than a few basis points of remuneration. Crossing from Group 3 into Group 2 lifts the policy-rate portion of reserves from NOK 85 million to NOK 630 million, which changes how much surplus a treasury desk can hold at the policy rate before the reserve rate bites. A bank that sits near a group boundary should confirm which group it landed in for this cycle instead of assuming continuity from April.

Why settlement banks carry a bigger quota

Four banks in this cycle are settlement banks: DNB and Danske Bank in Group 1, and SpareBank 1 SMN and SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge in Group 2. Each receives its group quota plus a supplement, producing total quotas of NOK 5.6 billion for DNB, NOK 4.5 billion for Danske Bank, NOK 990 million for SpareBank 1 SMN and NOK 720 million for SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge.

The supplement follows a formula tied to the settlement bank’s role. If a settlement bank has an initial quota of K, total assets of X, and settles for second-tier banks whose total assets sum to Y, the supplement is K multiplied by (Y over X), capped at the sum of the quotas of the banks for which it settles. The logic is that a settlement bank routes payments on behalf of smaller banks, so it needs headroom in the policy-rate portion of its reserves to carry those flows without being pushed onto the reserve rate by activity that is not really its own. The cap stops the supplement from exceeding what the underlying banks would themselves hold.

If your bank is a second-tier bank for which one of these settlement banks executes settlements, its total assets form part of the basis for calculating the settlement bank’s supplementary quota. Circular 3/2026 does not prescribe commercial terms between settlement banks and second-tier banks.

The structural-liquidity backdrop behind the reset

To see why Norges Bank is holding the total quota flat while it recalibrates the split, it helps to look at where structural liquidity sits. Structural liquidity, the level of banks’ deposits at Norges Bank before market operations, has risen markedly since 2022 and now stands just over NOK 150 billion, driven mainly by the government borrowing less than its requirement. At that level the quota system no longer does as much of its job: with so much surplus in the system, the pressure on banks to actively redistribute reserves in the market has weakened, and Norges Bank has ended up substituting for the market in banks’ very short-term liquidity management. Activity in the interbank overnight market, the unsecured redistribution captured in NOWA volumes, has fallen in step with the rising surplus, which is the very trading the quota system is built to sustain.

Norges Bank’s answer has been to withdraw some of the surplus through central bank certificates. It began issuing 1-month and 3-month certificates in 2026, held the first auction on 5 May 2026, and plans a total outstanding volume of up to NOK 79 billion during the year, while continuing to use F-loans and F-deposits for shorter fluctuations. When structural liquidity exceeds NOK 40 billion, Norges Bank offers F-deposits to pull it back toward the operating range. Against that programme, Circular 3/2026 leaves the total quota unchanged at NOK 45 billion while Norges Bank continues to use central bank certificates, F-loans and F-deposits to manage liquidity. The circular recalibrates the group allocations using 30 June 2026 total assets; it does not describe the unchanged total quota as a separate policy signal.

This is a useful place to contrast Norway’s approach with an ample-reserves system. Under the Reserve Bank of Australia’s model, described in our note on the RBA’s ample reserves regime, reserves are supplied elastically and remunerated in full at a single rate. Norway keeps a scarcer, quota-based structure precisely to preserve the interbank market that ample reserves tends to thin out. A treasury team that runs books in both systems should not port assumptions from one to the other.

Where the quota sits in your reporting stack

Circular 3/2026 does not amend a Finanstilsynet return, and it introduces no new reporting template, field or submission deadline. There is no “reserve quota return”. The circular sets remuneration parameters inside Norges Bank’s own settlement system and does not create a new Finanstilsynet return, template, field or submission deadline. Existing supervisory liquidity reporting is unchanged; central-bank reserve holdings remain relevant to LCR reporting.

The reporting relevance is indirect but real, and it runs through three channels. The first is the settlement system itself: a bank monitors its own sight and reserve deposit balances in NBO through the day and against its quota, which is an operational monitoring task for the treasury desk rather than a regulatory filing. The second is liquidity reporting. Central bank reserves are the most liquid asset a bank holds and count toward high-quality liquid assets under the liquidity rules, so the reserve position flows into the Liquidity Coverage Ratio that Finanstilsynet supervises, including the individual-currency LCR requirements it sets bank by bank. Central bank certificates also qualify as liquid assets, which is why a bank that swaps F-deposits for certificates does not see its LCR move much. For the mechanics of that metric, see our guide to LCR, NSFR and ALMM reporting.

The third channel is internal liquidity management. Finanstilsynet requires institutions’ ILAAPs to assess whether their liquidity buffers and funding structures are adequate and to take material liquidity risks into account. Circular 3/2026 itself does not prescribe how the quota must be reflected in ILAAP, funds-transfer pricing or liquidity-buffer planning.

The remuneration mechanics of a scarce-reserve system echo a wider debate in Europe about how central bank money is priced, from the Eurosystem’s deposit facility rate to the extended TARGET operating hours discussed in our note on the ECB T2 extended-hours roadmap. Norway’s quota is its own local answer to the same question.

What to reconcile before 1 October

The work here is small if it is done on time and awkward if it is not. Three checks cover most of it.

Confirm the group and quota your bank was assigned for this cycle, and whether it changed from the April allocation. Load the new quota into the reserve-position monitoring your treasury desk runs against NBO balances, so the policy-rate and reserve-rate portions are calculated on the correct threshold from the first October settlement day. And if your bank settles through a settlement bank, note that bank’s revised total quota, because it shapes the headroom available for your flows.

None of this touches a Finanstilsynet submission. The deliverable is an internal one: an accurate quota in the systems that price and monitor your overnight reserves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the quota cap how much my bank can deposit at Norges Bank overnight?

No. A bank can hold reserves above its quota. The quota sets the point at which remuneration steps down from the key policy rate to the lower reserve rate; it does not block a deposit or a settlement.

Is Circular 3/2026 a new reporting obligation I need to build for?

No. It sets remuneration parameters inside Norges Bank’s settlement system. It does not create a Finanstilsynet return, template or deadline. The only build work is internal: updating the quota in your reserve-monitoring and liquidity systems.

What happened to the quotas from Circular 1/2026?

Circular 1/2026 applied from 1 April 2026 off 31 December 2025 balance sheets. Circular 3/2026 is the next twice-yearly review and replaces that allocation from 1 October 2026, using 30 June 2026 total assets. The total quota and the target band are unchanged; the per-bank split is refreshed.

My bank moved from Group 3 to Group 2. What changes for us?

The portion of your reserves earning the policy rate rises from the Group 3 quota of NOK 85 million to the Group 2 quota of NOK 630 million. That gives you more room to hold surplus reserves at the policy rate before the reserve rate applies, which affects how you price and place overnight liquidity.

Why do settlement banks get more than their group quota?

Because they route payments for smaller banks. The supplement is formula-based, scaling with the total assets of the banks they settle for and capped at the sum of those banks’ quotas, so the settlement bank has headroom to carry others’ flows without being pushed onto the reserve rate.

Does the reserve position affect our LCR reporting?

Yes, indirectly. Central bank reserves count toward high-quality liquid assets, so they feed the LCR that Finanstilsynet supervises, including any individual-currency requirement set for your bank. Circular 3/2026 changes how much of your reserve earns the policy rate; the LCR rules themselves are unchanged.

When is the next recalibration likely?

Norges Bank normally reassesses the total quota and its distribution twice a year, usually around the start of March and the start of September, on the previous quarter-end asset data. On that cadence the next review would fall in early 2027.

Related Articles

• Norges Bank Countercyclical Buffer and Reciprocity: how Norway sets and reciprocates its 2.5 percent countercyclical capital buffer.
• Liquidity Reporting: LCR, NSFR and ALMM: the metrics through which central bank reserves flow into supervisory liquidity reporting.
• RBA Ample Reserves and ADI Liquidity: an ample-reserves system for contrast with Norway’s quota-based scarcity.
• ECB T2 Extended-Hours Roadmap: how the Eurosystem prices and remunerates reserves as operating hours extend.
• ICAAP and ILAAP: where a bank’s own liquidity adequacy assessment absorbs its reserve and quota assumptions.

Key Takeaways

• Circular 3/2026 applies from 1 October 2026 and sets new reserve quotas off banks’ total assets as of 30 June 2026.
• The total quota stays at NOK 45 billion and the reserve target stays at an average NOK 35 billion, plus or minus NOK 5 billion.
• Deposits up to a bank’s quota earn the key policy rate; deposits above it earn the lower reserve rate. The quota is a pricing threshold on overnight reserves.
• Allocation this cycle: Group 1, 7 banks at NOK 4.4 billion each; Group 2, 12 banks at NOK 630 million each; Group 3, 75 banks at NOK 85 million each; 94 counterparties in total.
• Settlement banks get a formula-based supplement: DNB NOK 5.6 billion, Danske Bank NOK 4.5 billion, SpareBank 1 SMN NOK 990 million, SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge NOK 720 million.
• This is a Norges Bank liquidity circular, not a Finanstilsynet reporting change: no new return, template or deadline. Reserves still feed LCR as high-quality liquid assets.
• Before 1 October, confirm your group and quota, load them into reserve-position monitoring against NBO balances, and check your settlement bank’s revised quota.

Sources and References

• Norges Bank, Circular 3/2026, “Quotas in the system for the management of bank reserves” (published 1 September 2026): norges-bank.no
• Norges Bank, Circular 1/2026, “Quotas in the system for the management of bank reserves” (published 2 March 2026): norges-bank.no
• Norges Bank, “The management of bank reserves: The system in Norway”: norges-bank.no
• Norges Bank, “The liquidity management system”: norges-bank.no
• Norges Bank, Financial Stability Report 2026 H1 (structural liquidity, quota system, central bank certificates): norges-bank.no

The quota is a treasury number your desk owns now

Circular 3/2026 asks for very little on paper and quite a lot in the systems that price your reserves. There is no form to submit and no supervisory deadline to hit. There is a threshold that moves on 1 October, decides how much of your overnight deposit earns the policy rate, and needs to be correct in your monitoring before the first settlement day of the month. Confirm the group, load the quota, and check your settlement bank. The next review lands in early 2027.

Disclaimer: The information on RegReportingDesk.com is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, or compliance advice. Always consult your compliance officer, legal counsel, or the relevant supervisory authority for guidance specific to your institution.