This includes serving as the bank for the U.S. Treasury. It is the Reserve Banks that have assets and a balance sheet. The earnings on these assets fund the operations of the 12 Banks as well as the operations of the Board of Governors to give the Federal Reserve System independence from the Congressional appropriations process.
Japan is in a weak state as it has been on several occasions over the past decade and its outlook is not improving. Europe has also slowed, but no obvious imbalances of the US type have emerged. We are presently in a period of sub-par growth for all three areas, and this is inevitably a time of great uncertainty.