Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Board of the Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It supports decisions in the areas of monetary policy, banking information and regulation, payment systems, economic research and data, consumer information, community development, reporting forms, and more. The board consists of seven members appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Board supervises the activities of the Reserve Banks, approves the Reserve Banks' annual budgets, appoints three of the nine directors of each Reserve Bank, approves the candidate for Bank president recommended by the directors of each Reserve Bank, and approves major Reserve Bank expenditures, such as those for the construction of buildings and the salaries of Reserve Bank presidents. The board also plays a major role in banking supervision, which entails the examination of depository institutions for safety and soundness and for compliance with laws and regulations. The Board's supervisory responsibilities extend to all bank holding companies, state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, and Edge Act and agreement corporations through which U.S. banks conduct operations abroad. In addition, the Board also oversees the activities of the U.S. branches of foreign banks. While the Board determines bank supervision policy, it delegates the task of conducting the examinations to the 12 Reserve Banks. The Board also publishes a wealth of statistics and other information about the Federal Reserve and about the U.S. economy.  In whole, the board employs about 1850 employees.