Читать книгу Corporate Finance For Dummies - Michael Taillard - Страница 42

The Federal Reserve isn’t a part of the federal government at all. It’s quasi-governmental, which means it performs functions related to managing the U.S. economy in cooperation with the government but isn’t actually under the direct control of any government body. Think of the Federal Reserve as the bank that other banks go to when they need banking services.

The Fed accepts deposits, makes loans to member banks, and facilitates loans between banks using the deposits. It also determines interest rates for certain key loans and the bank reserve requirement, which is the proportion of total deposits that commercial banks must keep available as liquid cash. Bank reserve requirements are used to manage bank liquidity for customer withdrawals and to manage the supply of money in the nation as a whole. The Fed generates funds by charging interest and by charging member banks a membership fee.

The controversy and confusion comes into play as the Federal Reserve receives money from the U.S. Treasury and then lends it out to member banks. The setting of interest rates is also one of the responsibilities of the Federal Reserve.

The reality is that the Federal Reserve is simply acting as a middleman for the distribution of funds, although the government can distribute funds without help from the Federal Reserve by way of spending more money through hiring contractors or distributing stimulus spending (like the new homebuyer’s tax credit). Banks tend to only purchase money from the Federal Reserve when they need to increase the total amount of money available, because interbank loans are a cheap, fast, and easy way to handle short-term shortages of money in reserve.

What do corporations need to know about the Fed? Because it sets the rates that other banks pay to borrow money, it also indirectly controls the rates that banks will charge customers. After all, banks always charge rates higher than they, themselves, pay. The Fed also plays a large role in controlling money supply. In short, the Fed is in charge of U.S. monetary policy, so most of what I cover in this finance book is directly related to the actions of the Fed.