the federal reserve banks are owned by united states of america.
the federal reserve banks are owned by united states of america.
who are the federal reserve banks owned by?
united states of america
federal reserve notes, also united states banknotes, are the banknotes currently used in the united states of america. denominated in united states dollars, federal reserve notes are printed by the united states bureau of engraving and printing on paper made by crane & co. of dalton, massachusetts. federal reserve notes are the only type of u.s. banknote currently produced. federal reserve notes are authorized by section 16 of the federal reserve act of 1913 and are issued to the federal reserve banks at the discretion of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. the notes are then put into circulation by the federal reserve banks, at which point they become liabilities of the federal reserve banks and obligations of the united states.
federal reserve note
the federal reserve banks have an intermediate legal status, with some features of private corporations and some features of public federal agencies. the united states has an interest in the federal reserve banks as tax-exempt federally created instrumentalities whose profits belong to the federal government, but this interest is not proprietary. each member bank (commercial banks in the federal reserve district) owns a nonnegotiable share of stock in its regional federal reserve bank. however, holding federal reserve bank stock is unlike owning stock in a publicly traded company. the charter of each federal reserve bank is established by law and cannot be altered by the member banks. federal reserve bank stock cannot be sold or traded, and member banks do not control the federal reserve bank as a result of owning this stock. they do, however, elect six of the nine members of the federal reserve banks' boards of directors. in "lewis v. united states", the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit stated that: "the reserve banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the ftca [the federal tort claims act], but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations." the opinion went on to say, however, that: "the reserve banks have properly been held to be federal instrumentalities for some purposes." another relevant decision is "scott v. federal reserve bank of kansas city", in which the distinction is made between federal reserve banks, which are federally created instrumentalities, and the board of governors, which is a federal agency.
structure of the federal reserve system