After serving a full term, a Board member may not bereappointed. If a member leaves the Board before his or her term expires, the personappointed and confirmed to serve the remainder of the term may later be reappointed to afull term.The chairman and the vice chairman of the Board of Governors are also appointedby the President and confirmed by the Senate. The nominees to these posts must alreadybe members of the Board or must be simultaneously appointed to the Board. The termsfor these positions are four years.The Board of Governors is supported by a Washington staff numbering about1,700. The Board’s responsibilities require thorough analysis of domestic andinternational financial and economic developments. The Board carries out thoseresponsibilities in conjunction with other components of the Federal Reserve System. Italso supervises and regulates the operations of the Federal Reserve Banks and theirBranches and the activities of the various banking organizations, exercises broadresponsibility in the nation’s payments system, and administers most of the nation’s lawsregarding consumer credit protection.The Federal Reserve System conducts monetary policy using three major tools: Firstly, the FED uses Open market operations, which is the buying and selling of U.S.government securities in the open market to influence the level of reserves in thedepository system. Secondly, the FED uses reserve requirements regarding the amount offunds that commercial banks and other depository institutions must hold in reserve againstdeposits. The discount rate is the third tool of the Federal Reserve Board and it is the ratecharged to commercial banks and other depository institutions when they borrow reservesfrom a regional Federal Reserve Bank. Monetary policy regarding open marketoperations is established by the FOMC. Policy regarding reserve requirements and thediscount rate is determined by the Federal Reserve Bank.Ano...
