| The United States has the decentralized | | | | meets in Washington, D.C. The Board consists |
| Federal Reserve System in which there are 12 | | | | of seven members. The members are appointed |
| District Federal Reserve Banks, each serving | | | | by the President and confirmed by the Senate. |
| a region of the country. A bank in a specific | | | | Each serves a 14-year term. The chairman, a |
| district would use its own District Federal | | | | board member, is appointed by the US |
| Reserve as its central bank. | | | | President for a four-year term. |
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| The Federal Reserve System, also known as the | | | | The 12 District Banks are run and managed by |
| Fed, is created by and responsible to US | | | | a board or nine directors. Six of them are |
| Congress, but Each District Federal Reserve | | | | selected by the member banks and the three |
| Bank is owned by its member banks. Each | | | | others appointed by the Fed's Board or |
| member bank contributes 3 percent of its | | | | Governor. Each district bank is led by a |
| capital stock to the district Federal Reserve | | | | president who is selected by the nine |
| Bank and another 3 percent to the Fed. | | | | directors. |
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| There are more than 12,000 banks in the | | | | Banking hours in the US are 9am to 3pm from |
| country and about 5,000 are chartered | | | | Monday to Friday. The unit of currency is the |
| nationally and the rest state chartered. All | | | | US dollar which is divided into 100 cents. |
| nationally chartered banks must be members of | | | | Every state in the country has its own |
| the Fed and the state chartered banks can | | | | Banking and landing laws. Each state has its |
| choose to be members. | | | | own banking commission or finance department. |
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| The Fed has its own monetary policy that can | | | | Credit cards and traveler checks are accepted |
| differ from that of government. It acts as | | | | by almost all banks but only some major banks |
| the watchdog of the money supply, interest | | | | exchange foreign currency. ATMs you can find |
| rates and the economy's price level. Its key | | | | in all corners of the country. Some prominent |
| responsibility is to safeguard the proper | | | | banks in the US are Bank of America, SunTrust |
| functioning of the money system in the US. | | | | Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC Bank, |
| | | | Citibank of America. |
| The Fed is run by a Board of Governors, which | | | | |