Description
The Federal Funds Rate (FFR) in the United States is defined by a range with an upper and lower limit. The upper limit is typically represented by the Interest Rate on Reserve Balances (IORB), which is the rate paid by the Federal Reserve to commercial banks on their reserve balances held at the Fed.
Prior to 2020, the Federal Reserve differentiated between the Interest on Required Reserves (IORR) and the Interest on Excess Reserves (IOER). However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Fed eliminated the reserve requirement. Since both the IOER and IORR rates were set at 0%, the Fed consolidated these two rates into a single rate, the IORB, in 2021.