The federal reserve

The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United states. Its unique structure includes A federal government agency located in Washington D.C., and 12 regional reserve banks. These 12 banks are located in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Francisco, and St. Louis. With the Reserve structured this way, It balances centralization with Regional presence. The Federal Reserve provides the government with a ready source of loans and serves as the safe depository for federal monies. The Federal Reserve Banks were created as instrumentalities to carry out the policies of the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Federal Reserve Bank stock is much different from owning stock in a private company. The Federal Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, so ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the system. The stock can't be sold or traded or pledged as security for a loan, and dividends are, by law, limited to 6% per year.