Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

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The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is one of twelve regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the nation's central bank. The Chicago Reserve Bank serves the Seventh Federal Reserve District, which encompasses the northern portions of Illinois and Indiana, southern Wisconsin, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and the state of Iowa. In addition to participation in the formulation of monetary policy, each Reserve Bank supervises member banks and bank holding companies, provides financial services to depository institutions and the U.S. government, and monitors economic conditions in its District.ResponsibilitiesAs 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 CEO, Charles L. Evans, helps formulate monetary policy by taking part and voting in meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).Providing financial services such as cash, check clearing and electronic payment 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 or to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. 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 Federal Reserve District.