Collateral Guide for Public Funds
BACKGROUND

The information contained in this guide is presented as a general overview of collateral 

program operations for federal agencies requiring collateral to secure public funds on deposit 

with a commercial financial institution (31 CFR Part 202). It does not supersede or replace 

any requirements contained in:

a) Specific Treasury Fiscal Service Collateral Program agreements, regulations, and

policies, or

b) Federal Reserve Bank Operating Circulars, clearing memos, or other guidelines.

The guide may be periodically updated to reflect current information. A more comprehensive 

version of this guide, directed toward financial institutions, will be available through a link 

on the Federal Reserve Financial Services website at http://www.frbservices.org. 

If you have any questions regarding the Treasury’s CFR Part 202 and CFR Part 225 

collateral programs; including pledging collateral, collateral eligibility, collateral program 

account set-up, and collateral account maintenance procedures, please contact Treasury 

Collateral Management and Monitoring Operations Support (TCMM) at 1-888-568-7343 (select 

menu option 2, and then select menu option 1). 
1. GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Amount To Be Collateralized (ATBC): The required amount that government agencies 

(31 CFR Part 202 and 225) and the U.S. Trustees for Bankruptcy or the Bankruptcy 

courts (31 CFR Part 225) have provided to the Federal Reserve as the amount to be 

secured with collateral by a depositary.

Borrower-In-Custody (BIC): Also referred to as Off-Premise Collateral (OPC). BIC 

refers to an arrangement by which a depositary pledges certain types of acceptable assets 

as collateral to secure public funds. The depositary is permitted to retain possession of 

the collateral on its own premises, subject to the terms and conditions agreed upon 

between the Treasury, the Reserve Bank, and the depositary.

Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service): A bureau of the Treasury with regulatory 

responsibility for establishing acceptable collateral and for determining the valuation of 

collateral for Treasury Fiscal Service collateral programs. Fiscal Service provides central 

payment services to federal program agencies, operates the federal government’s 

collections and deposit systems, provides government-wide accounting and reporting 

services, and manages the collection of delinquent debt owed to the federal government. 

Collateral: A marketable security or financial asset that has been determined by the 

Treasury and reviewed by a Reserve Bank as acceptable for pledging to a Treasury 

collateral program. Depending on the program, the pledgor or obligor provides collateral 

to secure deposit balances at risk to the Treasury or a Federal agency or in lieu of 

performance bonds. 

Collateral Management System (CMS): An application operated by the Reserve Banks 

that maintains a record of and values collateral pledged in Fedwire book-entry, nonFedwire book-entry, or in definitive (physical) form for all Treasury collateral programs 

administered by the Reserve Banks. Reserve Banks process collateral transactions 

maintained and valued in this system. Collateral held at the Depository Trust Company 

(DTC), with an authorized third-party custodian, in a Reserve Bank vault, or through an 

OPC agreement (BIC arrangement) is reflected and valued in CMS. 

Computer Interface: A communications link between computers at a financial 

institution and a Reserve Bank. 

Depositary: A financial institution authorized to secure public money on deposit and 

submit a bond secured by government obligations as collateral in lieu of bonds with 

sureties. 
Depository Trust Company (DTC): A national clearinghouse for settling trades in 

corporate and municipal securities and performing securities custody services for its 

participating financial institutions and broker-dealers. DTC is an authorized third-party 

custodian for the Reserve Banks and the Treasury. DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository 

Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC). 

Collateral Account: An account at a Reserve Bank (a) used to hold collateral or (b) in 

which is recorded the receipt of an advice of custody evidencing that collateral is held by 

or for the pledgor subject to the security interest of the pledgee. In Fedwire and in other 

related documents, this collateral account is also referred to as a Restricted Securities 

Account. 

Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring (TCMM): A centralized 

application operated by a Federal Reserve Bank to monitor securities and other financial 

assets pledged as collateral to various Treasury programs.

TCMM Operations: Manages monitoring functions for collateral pledged to the 

Treasury and government agencies.

• Performs new collateral account set-up, account maintenance, and collateral

withdrawals.

• Provides customer support for obligors/pledgors and government agencies as

custodian and in its role as Fiscal Agent for the United States Treasury.

• Retains records for all collateral functions and related activities.

Third-Party Custodian: A financial institution acting as a custodian holding pledged 

assets as collateral approved by a Reserve Bank acting as the Treasury’s fiscal agent.

Treasury Support Center (TSC): A centralized Reserve Bank function that provides 

customer service for various Treasury programs. 
Definitions of abbreviations used in discussing collateral:

ATBC - Amount To Be Collateralized

BIC - Borrower-in-Custody 

BPD - Bureau of the Public Debt 

CFR - Code of Federal Regulations 

CMS - Collateral Management System

DTC - Depository Trust Company 

DTCC - Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation 

FMS - Financial Management Service

OPC - Off-Premise Collateral

TCMM - Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring

TSC - Treasury Support Center 

UST - United States Trustee for Bankruptcy 

WOS - Wholesale Operations Site
TITLE 31 CFR PART 202 - DEPOSITARIES AND FINANCIAL AGENTS OF 

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Purpose and Requirements

Government agencies are responsible for ensuring the security of public money. Public 

money includes, but is not limited to, revenue and funds of the United States and deposit 

funds subject to the control or regulation of the United States or any of its officers, 

agents, or employees. The procedures and authority for the agencies are issued under 

Title 31 of CFR Part 202 (Depositaries and Financial Agents of the Federal Government) 

and Part 380 (Collateral Acceptability and Valuation). These regulations govern the 

designation of financial institutions as depositaries and financial agents of the federal 

government, the deposit of public money, and the acceptability and valuation of collateral 

pledged to secure public funds. Based on the collateral requirements supplied by the 

government agencies, the Federal Reserve, acting as fiscal agent for the Treasury, will 

ensure that depositaries provide proper collateralization for public money, as defined 

above, that exceeds applicable insurance limits.

When an agency selects a financial institution as a depositary for public funds, the 

financial institution is required to complete, execute, and submit Fiscal Service forms 

5902 and 5903. Agencies are encouraged to use banks participating in Treasury’s 

Minority Bank Deposit Program. The Federal Reserve will be responsible for obtaining 

and maintaining the current form for all depositaries with public funds on deposit under 

this program. 

Acceptable Collateral 

The most current listing of acceptable collateral for the 202 program is available on the 

TreasuryDirect website at: 

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/statreg/collateral/collateral_acc31cfr202.pdf

Collateral Valuation

The Reserve Banks use pricing vendors that currently reprice marketable fixed income 

securities pledged under Treasury collateral programs on a daily basis at the opening of 

business each day. For paydown securities, new factors are applied to Fedwire securities 

when they are received from the issuer and to collateral recorded in CMS when they are 

received from the pricing vendor(s). Margins are also applied to priced and non-priced 

marketable securities based on asset type to adjust the market valuation for collateral 

requirement purposes. 
A copy of the current collateral margin table for the 202 program is available on the 

TreasuryDirect website at: 

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/statreg/collateral/202%20Margins%20Table%20(06.03.14).

pdf

This table identifies the appropriate margin values for acceptable collateral as approved 

by the Treasury.

For more specific questions about acceptable collateral and its valuation, depositaries 

should contact TCMM Operations Support at 1-888-568-7343 (select menu option 2, and 

then select menu option 1).

Collateral Account Maintenance 

Opening an Account 

After a financial institution has been contacted by an authorized agency to hold public 

funds on deposit, the institution should contact the Federal Reserve to ensure that the 

agency’s 202 program collateral account is established under its Fedwire securities 

account structure in order to pledge Fedwire securities. The depositary must obtain the 

four-digit account number from the agency. It will be an alphanumeric character 

beginning with the letter V, followed by three numbers. If the agency does not know its 

number or does not have one, the depositary should request that the agency contact the 

Federal Reserve to ensure the correct account is established.

Note: If the form is not on file with the Federal Reserve, the financial institution will be 

required to complete the legal form described in Section 3.1 of this document before the 

account can be opened.

Closing an Account 

If a depositary no longer holds public funds on deposit from a specific agency, it must 

contact the Federal Reserve to have its Fedwire 202 program collateral account closed. The 

Federal Reserve will verify with the agency that funds are no longer on deposit with the 

depositary. Once the information is verified, the agency should send a written request to 

the Federal Reserve requesting that the specific 202 program collateral account be closed. 

Note: The 202 program collateral account will not be closed until the Federal Reserve 

has verified with the agency that the collateral requirement has been reduced to zero and 

that no other monies will be deposited. 

Amount To Be Collateralized (ATBC)

After all requirements have been met and the deposit relationship is established with the 

depositary, the agency will inform the Federal Reserve of the amount of collateral value 
required for the designated depositary. This dollar amount is referred to as the Amount 

To Be Collateralized (ATBC). The ATBC can be increased or decreased by the agency 

via the TCMM application or by contacting TCMM Operations Support at 1-888-568-

7343 (select menu option 2, and then select menu option 2). ATBC totals will not be 

changed without authorized direction to do so from the agency. If a depositary has a 

question about the current ATBC for a specific agency, it should contact the agency 

directly.

Collateral Monitoring

Collateral held under a 202 program collateral account is monitored by the Federal 

Reserve using current collateral value, not par value. Depositaries pledging collateral to 

a 202 program collateral account must ensure that the current collateral value is sufficient 

to cover the ATBC. 1 The Federal Reserve’s TCMM application receives real-time 

updates for the current business day until the close of TCMM (refer to TCMM Operating 

Hours as listed in the Additional Resources Section).

Collateral Deficiencies

A collateral deficiency occurs when the current collateral value is less than the account’s 

ATBC. Collateral deficiencies may occur in a 202 program collateral account for the 

following reasons: 

• Collateral held in the account received a periodic principal paydown (e.g.,

mortgage-backed securities or asset-backed securities)

• Collateral held in the account was revalued

• Collateral held in the account either matured or was called

• The agency increased the ATBC for the account.

When a deficient account is identified during the Federal Reserve’s collateral monitoring 

process, the Federal Reserve will inform the depositary that additional collateral must be 

deposited as soon as possible. 

Mergers and Acquisitions

If a depositary (the non-survivor) participating in the 202 program is merging into 

another depositary (the survivor), instructions concerning the disposition of collateral 

held under any 202 program collateral account(s) for the non-survivor should be included 

in the merger information provided by the survivor to its local Reserve Bank, which will 

forward the information for further processing. 

1 While the Federal Reserve monitors collateral value against the ATBC, the depositary has the responsibility for 

ensuring that all uninsured deposits of the agency are fully collateralized.
If the legal and operational mergers occur on different dates, the non-survivor’s account 

will have the recognized insurance coverage for its 202 account balances for the first six 

months after the legal merger date. 

The survivor will be responsible for ensuring that sufficient collateral is pledged to the

account by the end of the sixth month after the legal merger date. The non-survivor’s 

account may be retained for up to one year after the legal merger date. If the survivor 

requests that the collateral be transferred before the operational merger date, it should 

contact the Federal Reserve for further instructions. 

Prior to the operational merger date, the Federal Reserve will contact the agencies 

involved to verify ATBCs and to obtain authorization to move the collateral. On the 

operational merger date after receiving authorization from the respective agencies, the 

Federal Reserve will authorize the transfer of any securities held in the non-survivor’s 

202 program collateral account(s) to the survivor’s appropriate 202 program Collateral 

account(s). 

Please contact TCMM Operations Support at 1-888-568-7343 (select menu option 2, and 

then select menu option 1) to discuss any specific questions regarding the 202 collateral 

program.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Bureau of the Fiscal Service

https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fsservices/gov/rvnColl/tcmm/rvnColl_tcmm.htm

This website provides the CFR sections, procedural instructions, and other program

information, including recent developments. You can also sign up to receive e-mail

notification when certain areas of the site are updated.

• TreasuryDirect

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/statreg/collateral/collateral.htm

Find the latest information on acceptable collateral for each Treasury collateral

program, as well as information on collateral valuation. Sign up for e-mail

notification when certain areas of the site are updated.

• Financial Services

http://www.frbservices.org

This website gives information on Treasury collateral programs and the Fedwire

Securities Service. The Treasury Services information page will have information on

the Treasury’s collateral programs and the Reserve Bank collateral services. The

Fedwire Securities page will give current information on the Fedwire Securities

Service and provides a Fedwire Securities Guide. 
Processing Time Frames for Treasury Collateral Management and Monitoring 

Opening of TCMM...................................................... 8:00 a.m. ET

Closing time for TCMM................................................ 6:00 p.m. ET