Fed profits: $52 billion in 2009

[democracy1st]

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The Federal Reserve banks made a $52 billion profit in 2009, reaping extra income on the government securities they bought in an effort to stabilize the financial system.

The Fed, in a statement on Tuesday, said its members returned $46 billion of that sum to taxpayers. The central bank is an independent arm of the government and its member banks are required to return all profits to the Treasury, after certain deductions.

Those deductions account for the $6 billion difference between the two figures. Federal Reserve banks paid the private banks that control them $1.4 billion in dividends in 2009, while shoring up their own capital by $4.6 billion.

The Fed's 2009 profit marks a 47% increase over 2008. It comes as the Fed took in interest payments on an expanding portfolio of securities issued by the Treasury and by the government-sponsored mortgage agencies Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500).

The Fed said last year it would buy $300 billion of Treasurys and up to $1.25 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, in addition to $175 billion of debt issued by the agencies.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/12/news/economy/fed_profits.fortune/index.htm

[FLAprogressive]

1. how about we pay down the deficit with that cash?

[babylonsister]

2. The Federal Reserve will return about $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury for 2009

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