Central banks
Central-bank balance sheets
Total assets of five major central banks, each from its own data portal, on one comparable percent-of-GDP scale and in native currency. The Fed's balance sheet peaked at $8.97T (34.5% of GDP) on Apr 13, 2022 and quantitative tightening has since taken it to $6.74T. The Bank of Japan's peaked at 125.8% of GDP, 91 points above the Fed's peak share, and still stands at 105.2%. The QE eras, the 2020 spike, and each bank's unwind are all visible below.
Data as of Jul 15, 2026 (Fed, weekly); other banks at their own latest print, shown per tile
Total assets as a share of GDP
The one scale on which a $6.74 trillion and a ¥640 trillion balance sheet can sit side by side: total assets divided by the country's annual nominal GDP. The Bank of Japan is the outlier of the group, peaking at 125.8% of GDP on Aug 31, 2024 against the Fed's 34.5% peak; the SNB, a small economy holding a large FX portfolio, reached 135.2%. The 2008 QE1 step, the 2015 ECB and 2013 BoJ expansions, and the near-vertical 2020 spike are visible in every line; so is the QT era after 2022. GDP denominators are annual (GMD 2026_06 for the US, Japan, UK, and Switzerland; ECB euro-area accounts for the Eurosystem), with the newest actual carried forward for the most recent observations.
Source: Federal Reserve H.4.1 via FRED (WALCL) | ECB Data Portal (ILM, weekly financial statement) | Bank of Japan accounts via FRED (JPNASSETS) | Bank of England Database (RPQB75A, Table B1.1.3) | SNB data portal (snbbipo, balance sheet items) Y axis in percent of annual nominal GDP. Monthly axis; each month carries a bank's last print in that month. The BoE line is quarterly and ends earlier: its consolidated balance sheet publishes with a five-quarter lag. Methodology
Quantitative tightening, measured from each peak
Every value computed from the series as published: the all-time peak, the latest print, and the distance between them. The Fed has shed $2.22 trillion (24.8%) since Apr 13, 2022; the ECB 32.4% since Jun 24, 2022; the BoJ, the last to peak, is down 16.4% from Aug 31, 2024.
| Bank | Peak | Peak date | Peak %GDP | Latest | Latest date | Latest %GDP | Change since peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Federal Reserve | $8.97T | 2022-04-13 | 34.5% | $6.74T | 2026-07-15 | 23.1% | -$2.22T (-24.8%) |
| Eurosystem (ECB) | €8.84T | 2022-06-24 | 64.2% | €5.97T | 2026-07-10 | 37.8% | -€2.87T (-32.4%) |
| Bank of Japan | ¥764.8T | 2024-08-31 | 125.8% | ¥639.6T | 2026-06-30 | 105.2% | -¥125.3T (-16.4%) |
| Bank of England | £1,142B | 2021-12-31 | 50.0% | £862B | 2025-03-31 | 30.5% | -£281B (-24.6%) |
| Swiss National Bank | CHF 1,069B | 2022-05-31 | 135.2% | CHF 876B | 2026-05-31 | 105.9% | -CHF 193B (-18.1%) |
Source: Federal Reserve H.4.1 via FRED (WALCL) | ECB Data Portal (ILM, weekly financial statement) | Bank of Japan accounts via FRED (JPNASSETS) | Bank of England Database (RPQB75A, Table B1.1.3) | SNB data portal (snbbipo, balance sheet items) Peak = the series' all-time maximum as published. The BoE row runs only to its latest published quarter (five-quarter lag), so its true current position is more recent than shown. %GDP at the peak uses the peak year's GDP. Methodology
Inside the Fed's balance sheet: Treasuries and MBS
The H.4.1 composition of the Fed's assets: securities held outright, split into US Treasuries (WSHOTSL) and agency mortgage-backed securities (WSHOMCB), against total assets (WALCL). MBS holdings were zero before 2009, rose with each QE round, and have been running off since 2022; the gap between the total and the two held-outright lines is everything else on the balance sheet (loans, repos, swap lines, and other assets), which is what spiked in 2008 and March 2020 before the asset purchases did.
Source: Federal Reserve H.4.1 via FRED (WALCL) Y axis in USD trillions, weekly Wednesday levels. Treasuries plus MBS never exceed the total (asserted at build). Methodology
Each bank in its own currency
The same five series in the units each institution publishes: no FX conversion, no rebasing. Frequencies differ by source: weekly for the Fed and the Eurosystem, monthly for the BoJ and SNB, quarterly for the BoE (whose consolidated balance sheet starts Sep 30, 2013 and publishes with a five-quarter lag).
US Federal Reserve (USD trillions)
Total assets less eliminations from consolidation, weekly Wednesday level
Eurosystem (ECB) (EUR trillions)
Consolidated Eurosystem total assets/liabilities, weekly, as at Friday
Source: ECB Data Portal (ILM, weekly financial statement) Methodology
Bank of Japan (JPY trillions)
Total assets, monthly end of period
Source: Bank of Japan accounts via FRED (JPNASSETS) Methodology
Bank of England (GBP billions)
Consolidated balance sheet total, quarterly, five-quarter publication lag
Source: Bank of England Database (RPQB75A, Table B1.1.3) Methodology
Swiss National Bank (CHF billions)
Total assets, monthly end of month
Source: SNB data portal (snbbipo, balance sheet items) Methodology
Related: the policy rates these balance sheets accompany, on financial conditions and the country pages; reserve-currency composition on reserves. See the full methodology for series keys, unit conversions, GDP vintages, and per-source attribution.