| Federal Reserve System, central banking
system of the United States, popularly called the Fed. A central bank serves as
the banker to both the banking community and the government; it also issues the
national currency, conducts monetary policy, and plays a major role in
supervision and regulation of banks and bank holding companies. In the U.S.
these functions are the responsibilities of key officials of the Federal Reserve
System: the Board of Governors, located in Washington, D.C., and the top
officers of the 12 district Federal Reserve banks, located throughout the
nation. The Fed's actions, described below, generally have a significant effect
on the U.S. interest rates and, subsequently, on stock, bond, and other
financial markets. The Federal Reserve's basic powers are concentrated in the Board of Governors, which is paramount in all policy issues concerning bank regulation and supervision and in most aspects of monetary control. The board enunciates the Fed's policies on both monetary and banking matters. Because the board is not an operating agency, most of the day-to-day implementation of policies decisions is left to the district Federal Reserve banks, stock in which is owned by the commercial banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Ownership in this instance, however, does not imply control; the Board of Governors and the heads of the Reserve banks orient their policies to the public interest rather than to the benefit of the private banking system. The U.S. banking system's regulatory apparatus is complex; the authority of the Federal Reserve is shared in some instances for example, in mergers or the examination of banks with other federal agencies such as the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation (FDIC). In the critical area of regulating the nation's money supply in accordance with national economic goals, however, the Federal Reserve is independent within the government. Income and expenditures of the Federal Reserve banks and of the Board of Governors are not subject to the congressional appropriation process; the Federal Reserve is subject to the congressional appropriation process; the Federal Reserve is self-financing. Its income ($20.2 billion in 1992) comes mainly from Reserve bank holdings of income-earning securities, primarily those of the U.S. government. Outlays ($1.5 billion in 1992) are mostly for operational expenses in providing services to the government and for expenditures connected with regulation and monetary policy. In 1992 the Federal Reserve returned $16.8 billion in earnings to the U.S. Treasury. |