BoJ balance sheet at ¥625.0 trillion at end-September, ¥70.2 trillion smaller

Victoria Shinder09 October 2026, 08:022 min read

The Bank of Japan's balance sheet stood at ¥625.0 trillion at the end of September 2026, about ¥70.2 trillion smaller than a year earlier (¥695.2 trillion), according to the Bank's accounts for 30 September published on 7 October. The Bank notes that end-March and end-September figures are preliminary; final numbers come with its financial statements in November.

Where the shrinkage came from — assets.

• Japanese government securities: ¥504.0 trillion, down ¥52.7 trillion (−9.5%) year on year, which the Bank attributes to the reduction in its JGB purchases.
• Loans (excluding those to the Deposit Insurance Corporation): ¥68.4 trillion, down ¥15.4 trillion (−18.4%), mainly because loans under the Loan Support Program have decreased.
• ETFs held in trust remain at about ¥37.0 trillion and J-REITs at ¥0.65 trillion; foreign-currency assets stand at ¥12.0 trillion.

And liabilities.

• Current deposits — the reserves banks hold at the BoJ — fell to ¥416.6 trillion, down ¥85.5 trillion (−17.0%), reflecting both the smaller JGB purchases and the fall in support-program loans.
• Payables under repurchase agreements jumped ¥16.8 trillion (+154.9%) to ¥27.7 trillion, which the Bank links to increased sales of JGBs to the government under repurchase agreements.
• Banknotes in issue: ¥114.2 trillion.

Why it matters for the yen. The figures show quantitative tightening working through two channels at once: a slower pace of JGB buying lets holdings run down, and the end of cheap funding programmes drains loans. The result is that excess reserves in the banking system — current deposits — are shrinking faster than the balance sheet itself. A smaller pool of reserves is one of the ways tighter policy reaches money-market rates, alongside the policy rate. The repo line is the one to watch: it has more than doubled in a year as the Bank lends JGBs back to the government.

Source: Bank of Japan, "Bank of Japan Accounts (September 30, 2026)", 7 October 2026 — http://www.boj.or.jp/en/statistics/boj/other/acmai/release/2026/ac260930.htm