Federal Reserve System.

Federal Reserve System is an independent agency of the United States government that helps oversee the nation's banking system. The Federal Reserve System is known as the central bank of the United States. Its most important job is to assist the U.S. government in managing the economy by encouraging economic growth and controlling inflation. It pursues these goals by influencing interest rates and, the availability of money and loans. The program the Fed follows …

…cash reserves, lends them money, and exchanges checks for them. It enforces regulations set under consumer protection laws. The Fed reviews the operating procedures of state member banks and approves mergers between those banks. It regulates bank holding companies, companies that own enough securities of other companies to control them. References: Cloander, C David; economics (2004) McGraw-Hill Co. Wordbook Encyclopedia (2004) World Book Inc. http://www.tcb-indicators.org/ http://www.census.gov/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki