FEDERAL RESERVE ACT - House Office of the Legislative …

1 G:\COMP\BANK\ FEDERAL RESERVE FEDERAL RESERVE ACT 1. [Chapter 6 of the 62nd Congress; Approved Dec. 23rd, 1913; 38. Stat. 251]. [As Amended Through 115 174, Enacted May 24, 2018]. Currency: This publication is a compilation of the text of Chapter 6 of the 62nd Congress. It was last amended by the public law listed in the As Amended Through note above and below at the bottom of each page of the pdf version and reflects current law through the date of the enactment of the public law listed at . Note: While this publication does not represent an official version of any FEDERAL statute, substantial efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of its contents.

2 The official version of FEDERAL law is found in the United States Statutes at Large and in the United States Code. The legal effect to be given to the Statutes at Large and the United States Code is established by statute (1 112, 204).. To provide for the establishment of FEDERAL RESERVE banks, to furnish an elastic cur- rency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more ef- fective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes. [1. Short title]. [SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITIONS]. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the short title of this Act shall be the FEDERAL RESERVE Act.

3 '' 12 226 . 2. Definition of bank'' . Wherever the word bank'' is used in this Act, the word shall be held to include State bank, banking association, and trust com- pany, except where national banks or FEDERAL RESERVE banks are specifically referred to. For purposes of this Act, a State bank in- cludes any bank which is operating under the Code of Law for the District of Columbia. 12 221 . 3. Definitions of other terms . The terms national bank'' and national banking association''. used in this Act shall be held to be synonymous and interchange- able.

4 The term member bank'' shall be held to mean any national bank, State bank, or bank or trust company which has become a member of one of the RESERVE banks created by this Act. The term board'' shall be held to mean Board of Governors of the FEDERAL 1 A number of sections of the FEDERAL RESERVE Act are long or contain unrelated provisions and the provisions of each such section appear in more than 1 section of the United States Code. In this compilation of this Act, the Code cites for such sections appear at the end of each dis- crete provision. Matter in boldface brackets does not appear in the statute as enacted into law by Congress.

5 1. December 11, 2018 As Amended Through 115-174, Enacted May 24, 2018. VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:18 Dec 11, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 9001 Sfmt 9001 G:\COMP\BANK\ HOLCPC. G:\COMP\BANK\ FEDERAL RESERVE Sec. 2 FEDERAL RESERVE ACT 2. RESERVE System; the term district'' shall be held to mean FEDERAL RESERVE district; the term RESERVE bank'' shall be held to mean Fed- eral RESERVE bank; the term the continental United States'' means the States of the United States and the District of Columbia. 4. Definitions relating to Treasury bonds . The terms bonds and notes of the United States'', bonds and notes of the Government of the United States'', and bonds or notes of the United States'' used in this Act shall be held to include cer- tificates of indebtedness and Treasury bills issued under section 3104 of title 31.

6 12 221 . 1. Establishment of RESERVE cities and districts . FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICTS. SEC. 2. As soon as practicable, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Comptroller of the Currency, acting as The RESERVE Bank Organization Committee,'' shall des- ignate not less than eight nor more than twelve cities to be known as FEDERAL RESERVE cities, and shall divide the continental United States, excluding Alaska, into districts, each district to contain only one of such FEDERAL RESERVE cities. The determination of said orga- nization committee shall not be subject to review except by the Board of Governors of the FEDERAL RESERVE System when organized: Provided, That the districts shall be apportioned with due regard to the convenience and customary course of business and shall not necessarily be coterminous with any State or States.

7 The districts thus created may be readjusted and new districts may from time to time be created by the Board of Governors of the FEDERAL Re- serve System, not to exceed twelve in all. Such districts shall be known as FEDERAL RESERVE districts and may be designated by num- ber. When the State of Alaska or Hawaii is hereafter admitted to the Union the FEDERAL RESERVE districts shall be readjusted by the Board of Governors of the FEDERAL RESERVE System in such manner as to include such State. Every national bank in any State shall, upon commencing business or within ninety days after admission into the Union of the State in which it is located, become a member bank of the FEDERAL RESERVE System by subscribing and paying for stock in the FEDERAL RESERVE bank of its district in accordance with the provisions of this Act and shall thereupon be an insured bank under the FEDERAL Deposit Insurance Act, and failure to do so shall subject such bank to the penalty provided by the sixth paragraph of this section.

8 (Partially incorporated in 12 222 and 223). 2. Powers of organization committee . Said organization committee shall be authorized to employ counsel and expert aid, to take testimony, to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, and to make such investigation as may be deemed necessary by the said committee in determining the re- serve districts and in designating the cities within such districts where such FEDERAL RESERVE banks shall be severally located. The said committee shall supervise the organization in each of the cities designated of a FEDERAL RESERVE bank, which shall include in its December 11, 2018 As Amended Through 115-174, Enacted May 24, 2018.

9 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:18 Dec 11, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 9001 Sfmt 9001 G:\COMP\BANK\ HOLCPC. G:\COMP\BANK\ FEDERAL RESERVE 3 FEDERAL RESERVE ACT Sec. 2. title the name of the city in which it is situated, as FEDERAL Re- serve Bank of Chicago.'' (Omitted from Code, except that part of last sentence is incorporated in 12 225). 3. Subscription to stock by national banks . Under regulations to be prescribed by the organization com- mittee, every national banking association in the United States is hereby required, and every eligible bank in the United States and every trust company within the District of Columbia, is hereby au- thorized to signify in writing, within sixty days after the passage of this Act, its acceptance of the terms and provisions hereof.

10 When the organization committee shall have designated the cities in which FEDERAL RESERVE banks are to be organized, and fixed the geo- graphical limits of the FEDERAL RESERVE districts, every national banking association within that district shall be required within thirty days after notice from the organization committee, to sub- scribe to the capital stock of such FEDERAL RESERVE bank in a sum equal to six per centum of the paid-up capital stock and surplus of such bank, one-sixth of the subscription to be payable on call of the organization committee or of the Board of Governors of the FEDERAL RESERVE System, one-sixth within three months and one-sixth with- in six months thereafter, and the remainder of the subscription, or any part thereof, shall be subject to call when deemed necessary by the Board of Governors of the FEDERAL RESERVE System, said pay- ments to be in gold or gold certificates.