The article provides financial and legal analysis of the institution of minimal reserves in the European Union, particularly: peculiarities of its legal regulation, spectrum of subjects that form minimal reserves, amounts and coefficients; peculiarities of the minimal reserves usage have been investigated. Based on the research conducted as well as on de lege lata, the author elaborated de lege ferenda concerning improvement of the legal regulation of the minimal reserves formation in Ukraine in the frame of adaptation of Ukrainian legislature to the EU norms and standards.