BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  During the years in which we held the federal funds rate near zero, the Federal Reserve also engaged in large-scale asset purchases to further ease financial conditions and promote economic recovery. Consequently, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet grew from less than $ trillion in mid-2008 to $ trillion by late 2014.
As a result of the size of our balance sheet, the FOMC is employing new tools to implement monetary policy. In particular, to raise the federal funds rate we increased the interest rate we pay on reserve balances that depository institutions hold at the Federal Reserve.