The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve

Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...

s that, along with the

Federal Reserve Board of Governors 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 mo ...

, make up the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

, the United States'

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

. The Chicago Fed serves the Seventh District, which encompasses the northern portions of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, southern

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, the

Lower Peninsula of Michigan The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the Geography of Michigan, two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula of Mic ...

, and the state of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. In addition to participation in the formulation of

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

, each Reserve Bank supervises member

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s and

bank holding companies A bank holding company is a Holding company, company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The Compound (linguistics), compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + ''corporation, corp

ration Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

') or banco ...

, provides financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. government, and monitors economic conditions in its District. The Chicago Fed was established on May 18, 1914, when representatives from five Seventh District banks formally signed the Chicago Fed's organization certificate. The Bank officially opened for business on Monday, November 16, 1914.

Responsibilities

As one of the Reserve Banks that make up the

, the Chicago Fed is responsible for: * Helping to formulate national monetary policy. The Chicago Fed's CEO,

Austan Goolsbee Austan Dean Goolsbee (born August 18, 1969) is an American economist and writer. He is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Goolsbee formerly served as the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago's Boo ...

, helps formulate monetary policy by taking part and voting in meetings of the

Federal Open Market Committee The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is a committee within the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) that is charged under United States law with overseeing the nation's open market operations (e.g., the Fed's buying and selling of United Stat ...

(FOMC). * Providing financial services such as

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

, check clearing and

electronic payment An e-commerce payment system (or an electronic payment system) facilitates the acceptance of electronic payment for offline transfer, also known as a subcomponent of electronic data interchange (EDI), e-commerce payment systems have become increa ...

processing. Each day the Federal Reserve System processes millions of payments in the form of both paper checks and electronic transfers. These payments services are offered to institutions in the Seventh District on a fee basis. Because of a nationwide reduction in the use of checking instruments, the Chicago Fed and most other Reserve Banks ceased processing paper checks on November 17, 2009, and electronic checks in 2010. Items previously routed to this facility are now routed to the

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is the Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-based headquarters of the U.S. Federal Reserve System's Fourth Federal Reserve Districts, District. The district is composed of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky ...

or to the

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (informally the Atlanta Fed and the Bank), is the sixth district of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States and is headquartered in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Fed covers the U.S. state ...

. * Supervising and regulating state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, and financial holding companies. These organizations are located within the Seventh District.

Leadership

is the current president of the Chicago Fed. He took office on January 9, 2023, as the tenth president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Ellen Bromagen is first vice president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Fed. Anna Paulson is Executive Vice President and Director of Research. The Chicago Fed annually co-hosts in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

an international banking conference to examine cross-national banking and finance issues.

History

The Chicago Fed was established on May 18, 1914, when representatives from five Seventh District banks formally signed the Chicago Fed's organization certificate. The Bank officially opened for business with 41 employees on Monday, November 16, 1914. Bankers in Michigan, frustrated by business delays caused by travel time to Chicago, lobbied the Chicago Fed to create a branch office in Detroit (then the second largest industrial area in the Seventh District). The Bank's board of directors agreed to establish a Detroit Branch in a vote in November 1917. By 1919, the Chicago Fed had expanded to 1,200 employees and outgrown its office spaces, which were scattered across various buildings in the Loop. The Bank purchased a lot on

LaSalle Street LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a 17th century French explorer of the Illinois Country. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's f ...

and commissioned the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White—which also designed the Continental Illinois Building across the street—to design its new headquarters. The landmark Beaux-Arts building opened in 1922. The Bank opened its Money Museum in 2001.

Money Museum

The bank's Charles L. Evans Money Museum is free and open to the public year-round from 8:30am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, except on Bank holidays. All visitors must show a

photo identification Photo identification or photo ID is an identity document that includes a photograph of the holder, usually only their face. The most commonly accepted forms of photo ID are those issued by government authorities, such as driver's licenses, ident ...

, walk through a metal detector and have their bags x-rayed before entering the Money Museum. No food or drink are allowed in the museum. A presentation lasting roughly 45 minutes is available at 1pm on Monday through Friday, or by appointment. The rest of the Money Museum is accessible at any time during open hours. The museum includes a free kiosk, which takes a guest's picture in front of a million dollars in $100 bills. A million dollars in $1 bills and a million dollars in $20 bills are on display. The museum has been known for giving out bags of shredded money as souvenirs.

Branch

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has a branch office in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Board of directors

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. The current chair is Jennifer Scanlon and the current deputy chair Juan Salgado.

References

External links

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Historical resources by and about the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
available on

FRASER Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Federal Reserve Bank Of Chicago Office buildings in Chicago

Tourist attractions in Chicago Economy of the Midwestern United States