Federal Reserve Bank of New York
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The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is the most important of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY with a secondary office in Buffalo, New York. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey, Fairfield County in Connecticut, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
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[edit] Largest regional Federal Reserve Bank
Since the founding of the Federal Reserve banking system, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan's Financial District has been the place where monetary policy in the United States is implemented, although policy is decided in Washington, D.C. by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The New York Federal reserve is the largest, in terms of assets, and the most important of the twelve regional banks. Operating in the financial capital of the U.S., the New York Fed is responsible for conducting open market operations, the buying and selling of outstanding U.S. Treasury securities. Note that the responsibility for issuing new U.S. Treasury securities lies with the Bureau of the Public Debt. In 2003, Fedwire, the Federal Reserve's system for transferring balances between it and other banks, transferred $1.8 trillion a day in funds, of which about $1.1 trillion originated in the Second District. It transferred an additional $1.3 trillion a day in securities, of which $1.2 trillion originated in the Second District. The New York Fed is also responsible for carrying out exchange rate policy by buying and selling dollars at the direction of the United States Treasury Department. The New York Federal Reserve is the only regional bank with a permanent vote on the Federal Open Market Committee and its president is traditionally selected as the Committee's vice chairman. The current president is Timothy F. Geithner.
The New York Fed opened for business on November 16, 1914 under the leadership of Benjamin Strong Jr., who was previously president of the Bankers Trust Company. He led the Bank until his death in 1928. The Bank grew rapidly during the early years, necessitating the need for a new home.
[edit] 33 Liberty Street
A public competition for design of the building was held and the architectural firm of York and Sawyer submitted the winning design reminiscent of the palaces in Florence, Italy. The bank moved to its current location in 1928.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York maintains a vault that lies 86 feet (26 m) below sea level, resting on Manhattan bedrock. By 1927, the vault contained ten percent of the world's official gold reserves. Currently, it is reputedly the largest gold repository in the world (though this cannot be confirmed as Swiss Banks do not report their gold stocks) and holds approximately 5,000 metric tons of gold bullion ($160 billion as of March, 2008), more than Fort Knox. The gold is owned by many foreign nations, central banks and international organizations. The Federal Reserve Bank does not own the gold but serves as guardian of the precious metal, which it "protects" at no charge as a gesture of good will to other nations. Free tours of the vault are available to the public.
[edit] Past presidents
Presidents of the bank since its founding have been:
- Timothy F. Geithner, 2003 - present
- William J. McDonough, 1993 - 2003
- E. Gerald Corrigan, 1985 - 1993
- Anthony M. Solomon, 1980 - 1985
- Paul Volcker, 1975 - 1979
- Alfred Hayes, 1956 - 1975
- Allan Sproul, 1941 - 1956
- George L. Harrison, 1928 - 1940
- Benjamin Strong Jr., 1914 - 1928
[edit] Fictional accounts
- The 1995 Bruce Willis action movie Die Hard: With a Vengeance depicts a daring robbery of the New York Fed's gold depository.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York is at coordinates Coordinates:
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