But these possibilities are very little used, as there are other alternatives that are more advantageous for the banks. 4  BIS Review 160/2009  Something that has attracted relatively great attention internationally is the fact that the low repo rate and the application of an interest rate corridor of plus/minus 50 basis points for the Riksbank's standing facility means that the Riksbank in principle applies a negative interest rate for deposits in the Riksbank. In practice, this is of little significance, as only a very small part of the banks’ liquidity surplus is invested in the standing deposit facility. Instead, the banks invest most of their liquidity surplus at a positive interest rate in the daily fine-tuning transactions or the weekly Riksbank Certificates. Initially, the banks invested the majority of their large surpluses in autumn 2008 in the Riksbank as “fine-tuning”. As a result of the crisis the banks had a substantial need of immediate access to liquidity. More recently they have invested most of their surplus in the weekly Riksbank Certificates, which is a sign that market conditions have improved (Figure 5). Figure 5 Riksbank Certificates and fine-tuning SEK billion 400  400 Riksbank Certificates  350  350  Fine-tuning  300  300  250  250  200  200  150  150  100  100  50  50  0 Jul-08  0 Oct-08  Jan-09  Apr-09  Jul-09  Oct-09  Source: The Riksbank.
The gold reserve is a remnant of the days when banknotes and coins could be redeemed for gold at the Riksbank. This link no longer exists and gold is now regarded purely as a financial asset. The foreign currency reserve should primarily be used to allow the Riksbank to carry out its tasks with regard to monetary policy and financial stability. It consists of securities in foreign currency that are easy to sell and have a low risk. During the financial crisis the Riksbank has increased its lending to the banks to a great extent. As a result, the size of the Riksbank’s balance sheet has increased dramatically. Lending to the banks prior to the crisis was negligible, but during the crisis it has grown into the most prominent item on the assets side. The increased lending in turn results wholly in increased deposits in the Riksbank by the bank system as a whole, to which I will return later. This has meant that deposits from the banks have become the dominant item on the liabilities side. The Riksbank’s balance sheet increased in autumn 2008 within the space of three months from around SEK 200 billion to around SEK 700 billion (Figure 2).