Reserves
Charts
FX reserves across regions and income groups
Central banks in different regions and income groups account for different shares of different asset classes. Naturally, only European countries invest in NextGen EU funds. Also unsurprising is the relatively even spread of US Treasuries across regions and income groups.
But some differences are clear as well. Central banks in high income economies are much more likely to invest in ETFs, green bonds and social impact bonds. Middle income countries hold more US agency debt. Low income central banks have more bank deposits.
For the full breakdown, use the benchmarking service’s interactive charts to explore the data.
Reserve Benchmarks 2023 – model banks analysis
Data sheds light on key differences between advanced, emerging and developing economies
Reserve Benchmarks 2023 – executive summary
Key findings of the 2023 benchmark, including coverage ratios, strategies to tackle high inflation, new trends in asset diversification, geopolitical risks and external managers
Reserve Benchmarks 2023 report – rebuilding buffers
Insights on portfolios coverage ratios, strategies to tackle high inflation, new trends in asset diversification, geopolitical risks and external managers
Over 15% of reserve managers plan diversification changes
Close to 14% of participants will increase diversification, while 17.2% are discussing changes
Fewer central banks added new reserve assets in 2023
Overall, 10.3% of institutions diversified their asset allocation, down from 18.6% last year
Wallstreet and others rank highest for reserves technology services
Ion’s Wallstreet treasury system tops the 2023 rankings
Reserve managers rank JP Morgan top for custody and banking
BlackRock preferred for knowledge transfer and capacity building
Reserve managers vote BlackRock as overall best asset manager
Goldman Sachs and “other” asset management firms also score highly
High income countries less likely to tranche reserves
Overall, 72.4% of central banks divide their portfolios into liquidity and investment sections
Fewer than half of reserve managers perform liquidity stress tests
Approach tends to be more common among African and American institutions
FX reserves commonly invested in US Treasuries, bank deposits
SIBs and EU NextGeneration fund trail behind, as reserve managers avoid infrastructure and crypto
Few central banks expanded existing swap lines over the past year
Nearly one-third of new and existing lines are denominated in US dollars