Does anyone know who actually owns the federal reserve? It's like a public private institution, who are the private owners, and who are the public owners?
1 Answer
The Federal Reserve is a system, consisting of the reserve banks, which are "owned" (in a limited fashion) by their member banks (members select the leadership of the reserve banks), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which oversees the member banks and is independent within the government (that is, the Governors are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, but neither has direct control over the Board beyond its composition and the legal authorities assigned to it). All of this is covered in the law that gives the Fed its authorities, the Federal Reserve Act.