US Unveils New $100 Bill

Myth #1: There’s nothing “federal” about the Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Board (“Board of Governors”) is a government agency which consists of 7 members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. According to the law (12USC§244), the members of the board cannot be “an officer or director of any bank, banking institution, trust company, or Federal Reserve bank or hold stock in any bank, banking institution, or trust company; and before entering upon his duties as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System he shall certify under oath that he has complied with this requirement, and such certification shall be filed with the secretary of the Board.”
You have probably heard that the Fed is privately owned. This is false. No one “owns” the Fed. It is only “controlled” by the board mentioned above. The member banks of the Federal Reserve are private. This is why the Fed is referred to as a quasi-governmental institution. These member banks own shares of the Federal Reserve stock. However, unlike stocks of a publicly traded corporation, Federal Reserve stocks only represent membership in the Fed and nothing more.
The Fed is independent, but not private (it is only in a sense that the member banks are private). It is important that the Fed stays independent, beyond the immediate reach of politicians.