Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the monetary policy of the United States. Governors are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate for staggered 14-year terms. It is headquartered in the Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. Statutory description By law, the appointments must yield a "fair representation of the financial, agricultural, industrial, and commercial interests and geographical divisions of the country". As stipulated in the Banking Act of 1935, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board are two of seven members of the Board of Governors who are appointed by the President from among the sitting governors of the Federal Reserve Banks. The terms of the seven members of the Board span multiple presidential and congressional terms. Once a member of the Board of Governors is appointed by the president, the members function mostly independently. Such independence is unanimously supported by major economists. The Board is required to make an annual report of operations to the Speaker of the House. It also supervises and regulates the operations of the Federal Reserve Banks, and the U.S. banking system in general. The Board obtains its funding from charges that it assesses on the Federal Reserve Banks, and not from the federal budget; however, since net earnings of the Federal Reserve Banks are ultimately remitted to the US Treasury, and spending by the Federal Reserve System reduces the size of these remittances, the effects of this source-of-funding distinction are largely optical.