About the Fed - About the Fed, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The Chicago Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks across the United States that, together with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., serve as the central bank for the United States.

Bank Publishes 2008 Financial Statements

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's 2008 audited financial statements and footnotes Offsite Link

are now available on the Fed's Board of Governors Web site. These will also be included in the Chicago Fed's annual report, due later this spring.

About the Federal Reserve System

Congress created the Federal Reserve System in 1913, charging it with the responsibility to foster a sound banking system and a healthy economy. This remains the broad mission of the Fed and its component parts: the 12 Federal Reserve Banks nationwide that each serve a specific region of the country, and the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., which is set up to oversee the Fed System.

To accomplish its mission, the Fed:

serves as a banker's bank and as the government's bank
serves as a regulator of financial institutions
serves as the nation's money manager, performing a vast array of functions that affect the economy, the financial system, and ultimately, each of us

About the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

7th District Map The Chicago Fed serves the Seventh Federal Reserve District, an economically diverse region that includes all of Iowa and most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Seventh District has a large national share of many important economic sectors. The Chicago Fed has a head office in Chicago, branch office in Detroit, a regional office in Des Moines and a facility on the southwest side of Chicago.

Chicago Fed Leadership

Charles Evans is the ninth president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He took office Sept. 1, 2007. His official title is president and chief executive officer.

Gordon Werkema is first vice president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Fed and product director of the Federal Reserve System's National Customer Relations and Support Office.

Chicago Fed Responsibilities

As one of the Reserve Banks that make up the Federal Reserve System, the Chicago Fed is responsible for:

Helping to formulate national monetary policy. The Chicago Fed's president, Charles Evans, helps to formulate monetary policy by taking part in meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Although Evans serves as a voting member of the FOMC only every other year, he participates in all meetings by bringing the Chicago Fed's information and views about the economy to the decision-making process.
Providing financial services such as check clearing and electronic payment processing. Each day the Chicago Fed processes millions of payments in the form of both paper checks and electronic transfers. These services are offered to institutions in the Seventh District on a fee basis. Institutions can choose to use the Fed's services or those offered by competitors in the marketplace. The dollar value of electronic transfers processed by the Chicago Fed is about six times the U.S. gross domestic product.
Supervising and regulating state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, and financial holding companies. All organizations supervised are within the boundaries of the Seventh District, which consists of most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as all of Iowa.

Key Chicago Fed Statistics

Number of employees - 1,379 (2009)
Depository institutions in district - 2,647. This includes banks, savings and loans institutions, credit unions and others. (April, 2009)
Bank holding companies and state member bank supervised - 1,114 (April, 2009)
Checks processed - $749.6 billion (2008)
Counterfeit notes found per day - 32 (2008)
Currency received and counted - $45.7 billion (2008)
Unfit currency destroyed - $5.4 billion (2008)