Federal Reserve Bank of New York

On October 5, 1914, about a month and a half before the bank opened, the first meeting of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s board elected Benjamin Strong Jr., then 41 and president of Bankers Trust Co., as Governor. Born in 1872, Strong had begun his career in finance in 1891 at Cuyler, Morgan and Co. and from 1904 served Bankers Trust Co. successively as secretary, vice president and president.⁠[1]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York opened on November 16, 1914, in subleased offices at 62 Cedar Street with seven officers and 85 clerical employees, taking in deposits of $99,814,000 from 479 commercial banks. By the end of 1918 it occupied six locations with more than 203,000 square feet.⁠[2]

The bank began with more than $20 million in capital stock, and many of its staff were on loan from local banks.⁠[3]

In 1918–1919 the bank bought the block bounded by Liberty, Nassau and William Streets and Maiden Lane for $4.8 million, and the existing buildings were demolished from May to September 1921. A building committee appointed in early 1921 chose York & Sawyer through a competition among six firms, with Philip Sawyer as designer; Samuel Yellin was commissioned in 1920 for the decorative wrought iron.⁠[2]

Excavation began in 1921, reaching bedrock 117 feet below street level, and Strong laid the cornerstone on May 31, 1922. In June 1924, 2,600 officers and employees began moving in, and the building was completed in September 1924. It has 22 floors, four below street level and 18 above, and is built of limestone and sandstone in a style modeled on Florentine Renaissance palazzos.⁠[2]

On May 15, 1919, the bank opened its first branch, in Buffalo; the branch closed in October 2008.⁠[3]

In the 1920s Strong pushed for closer cooperation among the world’s central banks and traveled widely to pursue it. The bank’s biography describes him over his 14 years in office as a “dominant force in U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry monetary and banking affairs.” By 1927 the bank’s vault held about 10 percent of the world’s monetary gold.⁠[1][3]

Strong’s tenure ran to October 16, 1928; he died in 1928 while still chief executive. George L. Harrison succeeded him on November 22, 1928.⁠[4][1]

The bank’s 1918 offer of $400,000 for the Montauk Building on the same block was refused; it bought the building in September 1933 for $326,250. Construction of the eastern end began in July 1934 and was completed in July 1935, at a total cost of $21 million.⁠[2]

Before the Banking Act of 1935, the head of each Federal Reserve Bank held the title of governor. On March 1, 1936, Harrison’s title changed from Governor to President.⁠[4]

The vault was built during the construction of the building in the early 1920s. During and after World War II, as many countries sought a safe place to keep their reserves, much of the gold now in the vault arrived.⁠[5]

The headquarters building was designated a New York City Landmark on December 21, 1965, and was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places on May 6, 1980.⁠[2]

Holdings in the vault peaked at more than 12,000 tons in 1973, shortly after the United States stopped allowing foreign governments to convert dollars into gold, and have declined gradually since then.⁠[5]

The bank opened an office in Utica in 1976 for check processing; it closed in March 2008. In 1992 it opened a facility in East Rutherford, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the eastern United States on the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the Hudson River forming its northeastern boundary and the Delaware River its western boundary; its capital is Trenton and its largest city is Newark. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 18, 1787, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 9,288,994.Open the full entry, for currency and check processing and electronic payments, now the East Rutherford Operations Center (EROC), which processes more than 19 million notes per business day.⁠[3]

During the attacks of September 11, 2001, the bank kept essential trading and payments operations and dollar payment systems running, and provided medical care, showers and meals to rescue workers and staff.⁠[2][3]

The Maiden Lane LLC transaction connected with the acquisition of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase & Co.JPMorgan Chase & Co.JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company headquartered in New York that operates investment banking, consumer and small business financial services, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands; its roots trace back to the Manhattan Company of 1799.Open the full entry closed on June 26, 2008; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York lent the entity about $28.82 billion as a senior loan, alongside a subordinate loan of about $1.15 billion from JPMorgan Chase.⁠[6]

On September 16, 2008, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, using its emergency authority under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to extend AIG a secured revolving credit facility of up to $85 billion; AIG agreed to transfer 79.9 percent of its equity to a trust for the benefit of the U.S. Treasury. On October 8 the Board authorized a securities borrowing facility of up to $37.8 billion, and a restructuring on November 10 reduced the revolving facility from $85 billion to $60 billion.⁠[7]

As part of the November 2008 restructuring, the Maiden Lane II LLC transaction closed on December 12, 2008, with a loan of about $19.5 billion from the bank; the bank also lent Maiden Lane III LLC about $24.3 billion, with AIG contributing $5 billion of equity.⁠[6]

On January 14, 2011, the bank’s assistance to AIG was terminated and its loans fully repaid with interest and fees; interest and fees on the revolving credit facility totaled about $6.7 billion. Maiden Lane II LLC and Maiden Lane III LLC sold their remaining securities on February 28 and August 23, 2012, producing a combined net gain of about $9.4 billion for the U.S. public.⁠[7]

Maiden Lane LLC repaid the bank’s loan with interest on June 14, 2012, and sold its last securities on September 18, 2018, for a net gain of about $2.5 billion.⁠[6]

John C. Williams took office on June 18, 2018, as the bank’s 11th president and chief executive officer. He began his career in 1994 as an economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, was a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, joined the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in 2002 and was its president and CEO from 2011 to mid-2018. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry, a master’s degree from the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics and Political ScienceThe London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a specialist social science university in central London, founded in 1895 by members of the Fabian Society. It is known for research in economics, politics and social policy, and its alumni and staff include many Nobel laureates and national leaders.Open the full entry and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is a campus of the University of California system; the University of California was founded in 1868 through a merger of two institutions and moved to Berkeley, California, in 1873.Open the full entry.⁠[8][9]

As of November 2026, Williams remains president and CEO and serves as vice chair and a permanent voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. The bank’s board of directors has three classes, A, B and C, of three directors each, with terms expiring on December 31; the list updated by the Board of Governors in February 2026 shows Pat Wang of Healthfirst as chair and Rajiv J. ShahRajiv ShahRajiv Shah is an American development policy official and philanthropic leader who served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2010 to 2015 and has been the 13th president of The Rockefeller Foundation since 2017.Open the full entry of The Rockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation headquartered in New York City. It was chartered by New York State legislation in 1913 with funding from Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, with the mission “to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.” In its early years it funded global public health, medical education, and yellow fever vaccine research; in the mid-20th century it supported agricultural programs that came to be known as the “Green Revolution”; and in recent years it has focused its work on energy, health, food, and climate.Open the full entry as deputy chair.⁠[9][8]

The Second District comprises New York StateNew York (state)New York is a state in the eastern United States; its capital is Albany and its largest city is New York City. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on July 26, 1788, becoming the 11th state to join the Union, and its population in the 2020 census was 20,201,249.Open the full entry, twelve counties in northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a U.S. state in the New England region. Its capital is Hartford and its largest city is Bridgeport (2010 census). It entered the Union on January 9, 1788, as the 5th state, and had a population of 3,605,944 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, and the bank also serves Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It has more than 3,000 employees in four buildings: 33 Liberty Street, 33 Maiden Lane, 3 World Financial Center and the East Rutherford Operations Center.⁠[10][2]

For monetary policy, the bank conducts open market operations for the FOMC, buying and selling Treasury securities through primary dealers and holding them in the System Open Market Account (SOMA). It intervenes in foreign exchange markets on behalf of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System and serves as the main contact for foreign central banks; it examines member banks, bank holding companies and many U.S. operations of foreign banks in the Second District and provides liquidity through the discount window; it operates the large-dollar Fedwire system as the System’s Wholesale Product Office and acts as fiscal agent for the government.⁠[10]

The vault lies beneath the headquarters on Manhattan bedrock, 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level, with 122 compartments; its only entrance is guarded by a 90-ton steel cylinder set in a 140-ton steel-and-concrete frame. As of 2024 it held about 507,000 gold bars weighing 6,331 metric tons and remains the world’s largest known depository of monetary gold.⁠[5]

None of the gold belongs to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System; it is owned by the U.S. government, foreign governments, other central banks and official international organizations, and no individuals or private entities may store gold there. The bank charges handling fees for deposits, withdrawals and transfers between compartments but no storage fee, and values the gold at the U.S. official book value of $42.2222 per troy ounce.⁠[5]

The bank’s chief executives have been Benjamin Strong Jr. (1914–1928), George L. Harrison (1928–1940), Allan Sproul (January 1, 1941–June 30, 1956), Alfred Hayes (August 1, 1956–August 1, 1975), Paul Volcker (August 1, 1975–August 2, 1979), Anthony M. Solomon (April 1, 1980–January 1, 1985), E. Gerald Corrigan (January 1, 1985–July 19, 1993), William J. McDonough (July 19, 1993–June 11, 2003), interim president Jamie B. Stewart (June 11–November 17, 2003), Timothy F. Geithner (November 17, 2003–January 27, 2009), William C. Dudley (January 27, 2009–June 17, 2018) and John C. Williams (from 2018).⁠[4][11]

Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Official website: https://www.newyorkfed.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

Federal Reserve System: Official website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

X: Public account: https://x.com/NewYorkFed (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/federal-reserve-bank-of-new-york (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkFed (opens in a new window).⁠[1]