Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve (the Fed) is an organization in the USA which is made up of 12 reserve banks. The Federal Reserve fulfills the function of a central bank and it is managed by its Board of Governors. The Federal Reserve has the power to control the activities of financial holding companies, banks which are part of the Fed, foreign banks operating in the USA and also the international operations of American banks. The Federal Reserve sets the monetary policy for the USA.