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BackgroundDirectors of Federal Reserve Banks are charged with
the responsibility of supervising and controlling the operations of
the Reserve Banks, under the general supervision of the Board of Governors,
and for ensuring that the affairs of the Banks are administered fairly
and impartially. The Federal Reserve Act provides that Reserve Bank
directors will be selected with due consideration to the interests
of various segments of the population and the economy, thus ensuring
that the Federal Reserve System will receive the benefit of the experienced
judgment of individuals from a broad spectrum of the communities that
will be affected by actions of the System. For example, the provisions
of section 4 of the Federal Reserve Act, as amended by the Federal
Reserve Reform Act of 1977, provide that both class B and C directors
shall be chosen to represent the public with “due but not exclusive
consideration to the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry,
services, labor, and consumers.” Section 4 further provides that class
A directors “shall be chosen by and be representative of the stock-holding
banks” of the Federal Reserve System. Recognizing that Reserve Bank
directors may have, in their private capacities, business, consumer,
or other interests to which legitimate attention is to be given, but
recognizing also that these same individuals have fiduciary responsibilities
as directors of Reserve Banks, regulations have been issued to ensure
preservation of and adherence to the intent of both the Federal Reserve
Act and title 18, section 208, of the U.S. Code (18 USC 208).