New York Federal Reserve Bank example essay topic

The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) was created to reduce the risk of a repeat of the financial panics that occurred in the United States before its creation in 1913. The official objective of the Fed is to ensure the financial strength and stability of the nation's banking system. The Fed regulates and examines the nation's depository institutions to reach its objective. Also, it serves as a central bank that cashes checks drawn on the Treasury Bank, places currency into circulation and initiates fund transfers between depository institutions. The Fed splits the country into twelve districts, each of which is served by a separate district office of the Fed.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank (FRBNY), employing over three-thousand people, serves all of the state of New York, northern New Jersey, a part of Connecticut, and all of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. While geographically serving the smallest area compared to most other Fed banks, FRBNY processes the most assets and has the largest volume of activity of any of the banks. In addition to its main office, the FRBNY also has a branch office in Buffalo, and two regional offices: one in Utica, NY and one in East Rutherford, NJ. Both regional offices are charged with handling check clearing for their respective geographical areas. Between the two offices, they process 5.6 million checks per day.

When a check is presented for deposit at a depository institution, the bank deposits the check usually at its regional Fed office or local branch. FRBNY is the largest user of two types of electronic funds transfer payment systems (EFT). One system, Fedwire, transfers large payments between Fed offices, depository institutions and government agencies. Last year, the Fedwire system transferred $1.5 trillion per day in funds and $760 billion in securities, with the vast majority of those transactions originating from the New York Fed.

The other transfer payment system is called Automated Clearing House (ACH) and is used to reduce the use of paper checks. These systems are typically used for automatically paying bills, direct deposit of payroll and Social Security checks and other routine payments. In 1999, ACH processed 4.8 billion transactions worth $14 trillion. Of that, the New York Fed processed $3 trillion.

Located five stories below street level at the FRBNY, there exists $75 billion dollars worth of gold and hundreds of billions of dollars more in securities. The vault at the FRBNY contains the largest concentration of gold in the world, and amounts to one-quarter of the world's gold supply. It is also the only Fed bank that is permitted to have gold in its possession. The New York Federal Reserve Bank is distinct from the other reserve banks in that it is the only bank that intervenes in foreign exchange (FX) markets. While it is rare that the Fed intervenes, it is done to counter disorderly international market conditions. In the last seven years, the bank has only intervened twice.

The role that the New York bank plays is that it is responsible for actually executing the FX interventions. Also making the New York bank distinct is that it conducts open market operations. To reach its objectives of monetary policy, it buys and sells government securities in the open or "secondary" market. This adjusts the level of reserves that the bank holds, so that the Fed can either help or hold back the current shift of funds in the market. For the short-term, this helps the interest rate and the monetary supply.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank acts on behalf of the central Fed to provide services to over 200 foreign banks, central governments and international official economic institutions. Among these services is the cashing of checks drawn on US dollars in foreign countries. Since the foreign banks have accounts at the Fed, the New York Fed credits the accounts of the foreign banks for the amount of the check. The New York Fed was involved in $10 million of funds transfers for foreign accounts. The bank holds over $800 billion in currency and securities and gold for foreign banks and governments. In addition, the bank holds, at no charge to the institution, $64 billion in gold for foreign banks and governments.

The FRBNY has assets of over $261 billion dollars, consisting mostly of US Government securities. Its liabilities total $257 billion, most of that being Federal Reserve notes. Currently there is $525 billion of US currency in circulation. Interestingly, the majority of the American cash in circulation is not in America.

The process of putting cash into circulation involves the Fed distributing the cash to depository institutions, which further distribute the cash to its customers via withdrawals. The banks pay for the cash that they receive from the Fed out of their reserve account with the Fed. When currency in circulation makes its way back to the Fed, it is processed by a high-speed currency processor. For the FRBNY, this processor is located at the East Rutherford Operations Center. In 1997, 45% of all notes received by ERIC were destroyed. Typical reasons for destroying notes include suspected counterfeit money, worn money and old bills (such as $100 bills being replaced by new-style bills).

The typical life span of a $1 bill is 18 months, due to its more frequent use compared to the $100 bill, which lasts 9 years. The Federal Reserve's initial task of maintaining the strength and stability of the nation's banking system continues through the day. During the current economic recession, the Federal Reserve Bank has and will continue to use its economic regulatory powers to help the economy pull out of the recession smoothly.

Bibliography

1) Welcome to the New York Fed. Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 30 August 2001.
2) The Key to the Gold Vault. 7 May 1999.
3) Statement of Condition of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 29 November 2001.