The Dodd-Frank Act left intact the decentralized structure of the original federated Federal Reserve System – the twelve Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors in Washington. Each Reserve Bank continues to operate as a separately capitalized corporation with its own Board of Directors. 14 But, to limit the role of bankers on the Federal Reserve Bank boards, the Dodd-Frank Act prohibited the bankers on each board from participating in the selection of its Reserve Bank president. 15 Even prior to the Dodd-Frank Act, it is important to emphasize that the directors played no significant role in setting policy. 16 Instead, their role has been to advise the Reserve Bank  12  Several other conditions had to be satisfied as well. 13  Although considerable progress has been made in ending TBTF, I think it is premature to declare victory. Some banks still have work to do to make their resolution plans credible, and there needs to be more work on cross-border issues to ensure that such a resolution would proceed smoothly. 14  Each Board is made up of nine members divided evenly into Class A, B, and C directors. The Class A directors represent the banks of the District that are Federal Reserve member banks, the Class B and C directors represent the broader public interest. Only eligible Class B and Class C directors can participate in the process for selecting Reserve Bank presidents.
With regard to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which I have the responsibility of leading, I’d observe that the New York Fed, like the other eleven reserve banks, serves to  19  A historical example was the disclosure of Reconstruction Finance Corporation loans to banks in the Great Depression. This disclosure often created runs at the respective banks. See James Butkiewicz, “The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Gold Standard, and the Banking Panic of 1933,” Southern Economic Journal, vol. 66, no. 2, October 1999, pg. 271. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  support the overall mission of the Federal Reserve System. But, by virtue of its location, the New York Fed has a unique responsibility on behalf of the System – namely to serve as the operational arm of the Federal Open Market Committee with respect to the implementation of monetary policy. This separation of the policy arm and the operational arm of monetary policy in two distinct institutions is a very unusual setup among central banks. 20 There are good reasons why these important functions are assigned to the New York Fed. Monetary policy works by affecting financial market conditions in order to promote the economic outcomes consistent with the Fed’s dual mandate. As such, effective and efficient monetary policy execution requires a practical and thorough understanding of the broad range of the financial markets through which monetary policy operates. New York City is the nation’s principal financial center.