About Us
The Federal Reserve System includes 12 independent regional Reserve Banks located across the U.S. and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. The Philadelphia Fed is the home of the Federal Reserve’s Third District, serving Delaware, southern New Jersey, and eastern and central Pennsylvania.
What We Do
Established by Congress in 1913, the Federal Reserve promotes a healthy economy and financial stability by:
- Setting the nation’s monetary policy to promote our economic goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.
- Promoting financial system stability by monitoring financial system risks and engaging at home and abroad to support a healthy economy for U.S. households, communities, and businesses.
- Supervising and regulating financial institutions to help ensure the safety and soundness of individual institutions and monitoring their impact on the financial system as a whole. The Federal Reserve also provides financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions.
- Fostering a safe, efficient, and accessible payments system for U.S. dollar transactions and electronic fund transfers.
- Promoting consumer protection and community development by engaging with individuals, as well as community and business leaders, to better understand local economic conditions, issues, and the impacts of financial services policies and practices on consumers and communities. We also provide economic and financial education resources to support teachers, students, and consumers.
How We Do It
We are nonpartisan and decentralized by design to conduct monetary policy that is in the long-run, best interest of the economy. The Federal Reserve is accountable to the American people through comprehensive audits and reviews, as well as regular reports to Congress. We are open and transparent about our operations — publishing our balance sheets each week, releasing Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes after each meeting, and speaking frequently to the public and media. To learn more about the Federal Reserve System, visit The Fed Explained.