Integrated Brief

Fed Central Bank Liquidity Swaps

As of 2026-10-07, the Fed Central Bank Liquidity Swaps stood at $0.2B, unchanged from the prior reading, at the 57th percentile of the past 5 years. Dollars that foreign central banks have drawn from the Fed through its liquidity swap lines, as reported weekly in the H.4.1 release (SWPT). The Fed hands over dollars against the partner's currency and the swap unwinds on a fixed date at the same exchange rate; the foreign central bank lends the dollars on to its banks. The ECB, BoJ, BoE, SNB and BoC hold standing lines. Balances near zero are normal. A sharp rise, as in 2008 and March 2020, means banks abroad need dollars the private market will not supply: a revealed offshore dollar shortage. Rising swap-line usage is one of the DLI's funding-stress inputs.