This chapter provides Federal Reserve Banks (FRBs) with requirements and standard operating procedures for safekeeping, reporting, and monitoring collateral pledged by depositaries to secure public money on deposit.

When a federal entity places funds on deposit with a financial institution, the financial institution must pledge collateral under the conditions described in this chapter. The pledging of collateral by a financial institution is necessary to protect the federal government against risk of loss. State, local, and municipal deposits are not covered under this chapter.

See, inter alia, 12 U.S.C. 90, 265, 266, and 1789a; 31 U.S.C. 321 and 3303; and 31 CFR 202 and 380.

For additional terms and definitions related to this chapter, please view the TFX Glossary.

Delivery Instructions—Instructions issued by a depositary to its district FRB requesting release of specific securities from the institution’s safekeeping account. Those instructions also specify where the FRB should transfer the depositary’s securities.

Recognized Insurance Coverage—Insurance coverage provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, administered by the National Credit Union Administration, and other qualified organizations recognized by Treasury under 31 CFR 202.

Security Account Reports—Two essential reports available in the Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring (TCMM) application. The FRB Security Account Holdings Report is available monthly. This report lists all securities pledged to an agency. Additionally, the Collateral Monitoring Recap Report is available monthly and provides agencies with a recap of security collateral values and the amount to be collateralized for their V accounts (see below) throughout the month.

The Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) promulgates rules and provides guidance for the security of public money on deposit in depositaries. The rules outlining broad policy objectives with securing such funds are included in 31 CFR 202 and related collateral guidance in 31 CFR 380. The Treasury Financial Manual provides more detailed policy guidance and detailed procedures that federal entities, depositaries, and Federal Reserve Banks (FRB) must follow to ensure the funds are secured. Each federal entity must remain informed of and compliant with the latest collateral regulations, rules, and procedures. 

Fiscal Service determines the types of acceptable collateral depositaries can use to secure deposits of public money. Fiscal Service also determines appropriate margins on pledged collateral. 

The following subsections outline the distribution of responsibilities for securing deposits of public money.

4025.10—FRBs

All FRBs must secure pledged collateral to protect public funds.

4025.20—TCMM Operations Team

The TCMM Operations Team must:

4025.30—Depositaries

Depositaries must:

4025.40—Federal Entities

Each federal entity must:

4025.50—Fiscal Service

Fiscal Service must:

If a federal entity requests a collateral pledge and does not have a V account, the TCMM Operations Team must advise the federal entity to contact Fiscal Service to establish a new account. 

After Fiscal Service approval, the TCMM Operations Team will instruct the federal entity on how to complete the TCMM Agency Authorization Form, assigns the federal entity a new V account number and will obtain the amount to be collateralized (ATBC) requirement for the new account. The TCMM Operations Team also requests the completed FS Form 5902 and FS Form 5903 from the depositary (see Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring website), if needed. After receiving confirmation that the account set up has been completed, the federal entity can verify in the TCMM system that collateral has pledged. 

To accept deposits of public money, a financial institution must be designated by Treasury as a depositary and financial agent of the Federal Government under 31 CFR 202. Before accepting deposits in excess of the recognized insurance coverage, each depositary must complete FS Form 5902 and FS Form 5903, available on Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring website.

When a financial institution contacts the TCMM Operations Team about pledging collateral to secure federal entity deposits, the TCMM Operations Team ensures it has a completed FS Form 5902 and FS Form 5903 on file from the financial institution. If it does not, the TCMM Operations Team sends those forms to the financial institution along with a cover letter and a copy of 31 CFR 202 and 380.

The financial institution must complete and return the forms to the TCMM Operations Team before a collateral account is established or securities are deposited. The TCMM Operations Team maintains all pledging documentation. This includes the FS Form 5902 and FS Form 5903 and any other pertinent collateral transaction documents.

Unless otherwise specified by the Secretary of the Treasury, depositaries may pledge collateral in the form of transferable securities of any of the acceptable classes as noted in Fiscal Service guidance. The FRB accepts collateral at values (mark to market) it assigns. See TCMM website.

Securities not negotiable without endorsement or assignment are acceptable if the depositary either places its unqualified endorsement on each security or furnishes an appropriate resolution and irrevocable power of attorney authorizing the FRB to assign the securities.

If a federal entity expects its account balance to exceed the recognized deposit insurance limit (generally $250,000), it must set the new amount to be collateralized in TCMM system to ensure effective monitoring of collateral. As long as a depositary supplies the V account number and has completed FS Form 5902 and FS Form 5903, the TCMM Operations Team must accept the pledge of acceptable collateral.

When the TCMM Operations Team receives pledging instructions from the depositary, it must determine if the federal entity has been assigned a V account number. If not, the TCMM Operations Team must advise the federal entity to contact Fiscal Service for an account number assignment. If the depositary has not previously pledged securities to a federal entity, it must complete the FS Form 5902 and FS Form 5903. The TCMM Operations Team sends these forms to the depositary (see Section 4035). The TCMM Operations Team also determines if the securities pledged are acceptable as collateral (see Section 4040). All district FRBs deposit the securities into the depositary’s safekeeping account pledged to the federal entity.

The FRB may receive a deposit of securities from an off-line depositary without prior receipt instructions. In this case, the securities operations staff at the district FRB should not reverse the deposit automatically but should contact the depositary to determine the proper disposition of the deposit.

A depositary must pledge all collateral to a specific agency V account. If a depositary pledges collateral in excess of the requested amount, the entire pledge is applied to the indicated federal entity account. For example, Federal entity “X” requests a pledge of $103,000. The depositary chooses to pledge $105,000 because of the profile of its securities portfolio. Federal entity “X” is credited with the entire $105,000 pledge, not just the $103,000 requested.

The TCMM Operations Team monitors federal entity V accounts to identify maturing securities. Because most of the pledged securities are made in book-entry form, the FRB must have procedures in place to prevent under-collateralization of the federal entity account. This could result from either the redemption or payment of pledged securities. In this case, the FRB sends a report notifying each depositary of its upcoming maturing securities. Depending on the circumstances, the TCMM Operations Team must take the actions discussed below.

4055.10—Substitution Required

If the TCMM Operations Team determines that a depositary’s collateral account must remain at the current level, the FRB contacts the depositary at least 30 business days before the maturity date of the current pledged securities. If the depositary does not substitute new collateral one business day before the maturity date, the TCMM Operations Team calls the depositary to discuss the need for additional collateral or the withholding of proceeds.

4055.20—Substitution Not Required

If the collateral amount can be reduced without under-collateralizing the V account, the TCMM Operations Team releases the collateral.

4055.30—Substitution Required But Not Received

Book-entry securities must be redeemed and paid on their maturity date. However, the TCMM Operations Team withholds payment if it does not receive a collateral substitution from a depositary on time. The TCMM Operations Team holds redemption proceeds in a general ledger account until the depositary deposits substitute collateral into the account pledged to the federal entity, or until the federal entity lowers the amount to be collateralized.

It is important that federal entity and TCMM Operations Team collateral records correctly reflect the outcome of depositary mergers. This ensures that collateral deficiencies do not develop. When a federal entity maintains accounts with two depositaries, each account is separately insured by recognized deposit insurance (generally $250,000). If two depositaries serving the same federal entity merge, the surviving depositary may need to pledge additional collateral to replace the insurance coverage lost because of the merger.

TCMM Operations Team provides the FRB Security Account Holdings Report and the Collateral Monitoring Recap Report monthly. Federal entities and depositaries use these reports to ensure that their deposits are adequately protected and to evaluate whether any changes are needed to their amounts to be collateralized.

If a depositary that has pledged collateral to a federal entity becomes insolvent, the TCMM Operations Team should refer to TFM Volume II, Part 8, Chapter 3000, for guidance. Neither the TCMM Operations Team nor the federal entity can authorize the release of collateral in the event of a depositary’s insolvency. Only Fiscal Service can instruct the TCMM Operations Team to release collateral held under 31 CFR 202 for an insolvent depositary.

Direct inquiries concerning this chapter to:

Department of the Treasury 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service 
Revenue Collections Management 
Bank Policy and Oversight Division 
3201 Pennsy Drive, Building E 
Landover, MD 20785 
202-874-8471 
BMT@fiscal.treasury.gov

Direct inquiries concerning TCMM Operations Support to:

TCMM Operations Support 
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 
P.O. Box 442 
St. Louis, MO 63166-0442 
888-568-7343, option 2 
Fax: 1-314-444-6198
TCMM@stls.frb.org

For information describing acceptable collateral and its valuation, see TCMM.

For information on collateral policy, see Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring website.