privately owned owns the member banks of the federal reserve.
who owns the member banks of the federal reserve?
privately owned
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
the following people are on the board of directors . class a directors are elected by member banks to represent member banks. class b directors are elected by member banks to represent the public. class c directors are appointed by the board of governors to represent the public. their terms expire on december 31.





















































section::::see also.





















































bullet::::- federal reserve act





















































bullet::::- federal reserve system





















































bullet::::- federal reserve districts





















































bullet::::- federal reserve branches





















































bullet::::- federal reserve bank of minneapolis helena branch





















































bullet::::- structure of the federal reserve system





















































section::::external links.





















































bullet::::- minneapolis fed's home page





















































bullet::::- james lileks: federal reserve
federal reserve bank of minneapolis