Supervision and Regulation

Monetary Policy Role

The primary responsibility of the central bank is to influence the flow of money and credit in the nation's economy. The Federal Reserve Banks are involved in this func­tion in several ways. First, five of the twelve presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks serve, along with the seven mem­bers of the Board of Governors, as mem­bers of the Federal Open Market Com­mittee (FOMC). The president of the Fed­eral Reserve Bank of New York serves on a continuous basis; the other presidents serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. The FOMC meets periodically in Wash­ington, D.C., and determines policy with respect to purchases and sales of govern­ment securities in the open market, ac­tions that in turn affect of the availability of money and credit in the economy.

Second, the boards of directors of the Federal Reserve Banks initiate changes in the discount rate, the rate of interest on loans made by Reserve Banks to deposi­tory institutions at the "discount win­dow." Discount-rate changes must be approved by the Board of Governors. All depository institutions that are subject to reserve requirements set by the Federal Reserve-including commercial banks, mutual savings banks, savings and loan associations, and credit unions—have ac­cess to the discount window.

Each Federal Reserve Bank has a re­search staff to gather and analyze a wide range of economic data and to interpret conditions and developments in the economy. This research assists the FOMC in the formulation and implementation of monetary policy. It also contributes to informed decision making by the Federal Reserve Banks in bank supervisory mat­ters and other areas. Most Reserve Banks publish a monthly or quarterly journal devoted to basic research and analysis of current economic issues in their District.

In addition to its money and credit responsibili­ties, the Federal Reserve has broad super­visory and regulatory authority over the activities of state-chartered member banks and bank holding companies, including their foreign activities and Edge corpora­tions, and foreign banks operating in the United States. It is also charged with writing regulations for the major federal consumer credit laws.

Some of these supervisory responsibili­ties are delegated to the Reserve Banks by the Board of Governors. These responsi­bilities include the conduct of field ex­aminations and inspections of state-char­tered member banks, bank holding com­panies, and foreign bank offices in this country and the authority to approve cer­tain types of bank and bank holding com­pany applications.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29