Central bank

	Public finance
	This article is part of the series:; Finance and Taxation
Taxation
	Ad valorem tax · Consumption tax ; Corporate tax · Excise ; Gift tax · Income tax ; Inheritance tax · Land value tax ; Luxury tax · Poll tax ; Property tax · Sales tax ; Tariff · Value added tax ;
Tax incidence
	Flat tax · Progressive tax ; Regressive tax · Tax haven ; Tax rate
Economic policy
	Monetary policy; Central bank · Money supply
	Fiscal policy; Spending · Deficit · Debt
	Trade policy ; Tariff · Trade agreement
Finance
	Financial market ; Financial market participants ; Corporate · Personal ; Public · Banking · Regulation

Previous (Central Intelligence Agency)

Next (Central nervous system)

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority, is an entity responsible for the money of its country or of its group of member states. In most countries, the central bank is state-owned and has a minimal degree of autonomy to allow for the possibility of government intervention in monetary policy. An "independent central bank" is one that operates under rules designed to prevent political interference. Examples of independent central banks include the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of India, the Bank of Japan, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Bank of Canada, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and the European Central Bank. The primary responsibility of the central bank is to maintain the stability of the national currency and money supply, and to act as a clearing house for checks and electronic money transfers through member banks.A central bank may also have supervisory powers to ensure that private banks and other financial institutions do not behave recklessly or fraudulently.

Though the primary purpose of a central bank is to act as a financial regulator or referee, central banks have assumed, or been given more active duties, including controlling interest rates, acting as the lender of last resort to the private banks during times of financial crisis, centralizes bank reserves, and lends money for interest to governments and financial institutions. These active roles make it a profitable business that has been a source of corruption, especially the large amounts of interest generated from fractional reserve lending. A central bank suffers a conflict of interest when it acts as both a referee and a player.

A central bank's function is to maintain economic stability by regulating the flow of money in its country or larger area of responsibility, much as various organs in the human body regulate the production and flow of blood, to support the health of the body as a whole. Historically, the body of human society has suffered ill health as its central banks have allowed banks to speculate with depositor money, lent money to governments and financial industries for non-productive purposes, and money laundering, causing inflation. By lending, buying securities, and charging interest on loan, central banks overstep their role as a regulator, compete with the private banks they are supposed to serve, and become an unchecked source of money printing that funds corruption and harms society. To serve their main purpose of serving member banks, maintaining the money supply, and acting as a regulator, central banks should be prohibited from owning assets, lending money, purchasing securities, and charging interest. They best serve as an independent agency funded by fees to banks for providing reserve currency, check clearing services and currency exchange.

History

Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai, India.

Prior to seventeenth-century Europe, money was typically in the form of gold or silver commodity money. The reliance on promissory notes, however, was accepted at least five centuries earlier throughout parts of Europe and Asia. The earliest prototype of a central banking system was developed by the medieval European Knights Templar. Their activities included some elements of the modern system of banking, as their promises to pay were widely regarded and upheld. China’s Kublai Khan introduced fiat currency to Asia soon after. Today’s international banking system, however, resembles facets of colonialism and its introduction of a large, global commodity market. This was managed by the British Empire and controlled by its vast sea power, and replicated by the Federal Reserve System in the United States and the European Central Bank.

The first central bank in the world is the Bank of Sweden, which was opened in 1668 with help from Dutch businessmen and employed fractional reserve banking. The Bank of England followed in 1694, created by Scottish businessman, William Paterson, at the request of the English government to finance a [[war]. It was bankrupt by 1696, but the English Parliament backed it by declaring its bank notes as the only legal tender, suspended redemption in gold and silver, and prosecuted counterfeiting, forcing inflation on British citizens. The Federal Reserve System would follow much later, created by the U.S. Congress through the passing of the Glass-Owen Bill and signed by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913. The Sixteenth Amendment was passed the previous February to legalize a federal income tax on citizens that would guarantee interest payments to private bankers.

With the introduction of Chinese market reforms by Deng Xiao Ping, the People’s Bank of China evolved its role as a central bank in 1979. This accelerated in 1989, when the country took a capitalist approach to developing its export economy. By 2000, the People’s Bank of China had become a modern central bank, emerging in response to the European Central Bank, the most modern of international bank models. The European Central Bank was introduced with the euro to coordinate the European national banks, which continue to manage their respective economies separately.

Current Central Bank Responsibilities

Central banks serve as a nation’s principal monetary authority. Their primary purpose is to regulate their nation’s money supply, issue currency, manage the foreign exchange rate, and serve as a clearing house for other banks. Central banks often centralize the reserves of other banks, and sometimes serve as a government treasury, managing their government’s stock register and gold reserves. They often lend newly printed money for interest to governments and financial institutions and accept paper securities in exchange. This is sometimes referred to as fiat money or "funny money" because it does not represent new assets or economic goods that expand the economy. Central banks may gain the authority to adjust interest rates to compensate for this overexpanded money supply, causing the gradual devaluation of the currency rather than rapid swings in the economy.

Central banks have a monopoly on the issuance of national currency. They are often asked to fulfill the duties of the primary bank of the government, acting as a bank, rather than a regulator of banks. This is a conflict of interest that allows governments to access new money instead of directly taxing citizens, increasing national debts and interest payments to private central banks. A central bank can also influence commercial bank borrowing by setting the interest rate at an encouraging or discouraging level. In this way, a central bank maintains direct control over its nation’s economy. This will, in turn, affect business expansion and employment and further tweaking of interest rates is required to balance inflation and employment while simultaneously trying to satisfy the government's unchecked appetite for new money.

Private Central Banks vs. National Banks

Both private central banks and national banks issue money and try to ensure a stable domestic economy. Though some central banks, like the People's Bank of China, explicitly declare themselves a national bank, others, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, officially do not. Private central banks are banking businesses in their own right and charge interest on loans to governments. This means that government debt will generally increase because more money than the original amount issued needs to be issued to cover the interest. This also means the private central banks will encourage government borrowing to enrich themselves. National banks, on the other hand, can print money for the government without charging the government interest. At the same time, they can collect interest on loans given to other banks and financial institutions.

This distinction is generally subtle but significant. Most day-to-day functions of a central or national bank are the same. A central or national bank can act as a lender of last resort to assist other banks in cases of financial distress. Unlike a national bank, a central bank will aim to manage inflation, as well as deflation, or the falling of prices, through monetary policies designed to maintain the stability of the currency and money supply.

Exceptions to this distinction include the United States, Europe, and various countries using non-convertible currency including China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. The latter four are exceptions because they use a county-specific currency, and managing the nation’s currency means managing the national economy.

The European Union is an exception, as its nations share a general currency but do not share a single common economy. There, many historically separate national banks cooperate with the newer, single central bank, the European Central Bank. The United States is also an exception. Since the collapse of the gold standard in 1931 and the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944, the U.S. dollar has become a reserve currency, with the result that managing the U.S. dollar affects not only the United States economy but economies worldwide. As a result, pressures to control U.S. inflation are severe. When the United States experiences a period of inflation, it remains virtually impossible for many other countries, which must possess U.S. dollars to purchase certain commodities, to avoid economic inflation.

Both types of banks are subject to moral hazard. Private banks will attempt to maximize government borrowing and place the heaviest tax burden on citizens they can afford. National banks, on the other hand, have no outside check on the government printing of money, and when assets do not back the currency, it will not be convertible. This hazard can be eliminated by having a central bank as an officially licensed non-profit agency that only serves the role of issuing currency and regulating other banks, not giving or lending new money to the government or anyone else, buying securities, holding reserves, or charging interest. Governments would be forced to rely on taxes or get loans from private banks or sell bonds to individuals, making it more difficult to print and launder money without destroying their credit rating or making their currency non-convertible for global transactions.

With clear limitations on central bank roles, and separation from the entity that prints the currency and government borrowing, there would be no need for money supply manipulation through managing interest rates and open market operations. Reserves would be held by local banks or national treasuries. New money would only be injected into the money supply to cover the economic expansion through fractional reserve lending by other banks in the system.

Monetary Policy

The main instruments of monetary policy currently used by central banks are open market operations, interest rate intervention, reserve requirements, re-lending, and re-discounting. Capital adequacy, a measure of financial strength, is also considered instrumental, but is strictly regulated by the Bank for International Settlements.

Open Market Operations

Through open market operations, a central bank can directly influence a nation’s money supply. By purchasing securities with money, a central bank will increase the amount of money in its economy’s circulation, and therefore increase its nation’s money supply. Conversely, the selling of securities will lower the money supply and reduce the amount of money in economic circulation. Main open market operations include reverse operations, or the temporary lending of money for collateral securities, direct operations, or the buying and selling of securities, and foreign exchange operations.

Smaller economies, with limited control over the users of their currency, often employ open market operations as a means of monetary policy. Open market operations are also used by the United States, as the U.S. dollar is used worldwide, and used by the European Union, which holds limited authority over their national banking policies.

To enable open market operations, a central bank must hold official gold reserves and foreign exchange reserves, often in the form of government bonds. Open market operations can also influence the foreign exchange market and foreign exchange rate. On occasion, the People's Bank of China and the Bank of Japan have purchased large amounts of U.S. treasuries to stop the decline of the U.S. dollar versus China’s renminbi and Japan’s yen.

Interest Rate Intervention

A major role of a central bank plays when it lends money and buys securities is to set a lending rate known as the "Federal funds rate," a targeted fund rate that its Open Market Committee aims to match through active borrowing or lending.

Central banks have several interest rates they can set to influence markets. These rates include the marginal lending rate, the main refinancing rate, and the deposit rate. The marginal interest rate is a fixed rate set for institutions when borrowing from a central bank. The main refinancing rate, minimum bid rate, or discount rate is the interest rate announced by the central bank to the public. The deposit rate marks the rate parties receive for deposits at the central bank. These rates directly affect the money market and the market for short-term loans.

A central bank is often responsible for controlling certain types of short-term interest rates that can also influence the stock and bond markets. Both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are composed of one or more central bodies that are responsible for any decision regarding interest rates and the size and type of open market operations. These banks also employ several smaller branches to execute their determined policies. In the United States, these branches are known as the local Federal Reserve Banks; throughout Europe, they are the National Central Banks.

Reserve Requirements

The most fundamental leverage of central banks is the establishment of reserve requirements. By requiring that a percentage of liabilities be held as cash, central banks can set absolute limits on their nation's money supply.

Such legal reserve requirements were introduced in 1668 by the Riksbank in Sweden and by central banks in Europe thereafter. In the U.S., arguments between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, and later Andrew Jackson, led to the creation and dismantling of the first two national banks, and the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. Reserve requirements limit the risk of banks overextending themselves and suffering from reserve depletions in normal bank operations. However, such limits are difficult to enforce. The People's Bank of China, for example, retains more power over reserves because the yuan is a non-convertible currency. In March 2020, an overextended and precarious U.S. Federal Reserve system abandoned reserve requirements when large amounts of money were printed and distributed for the Covid pandemic.

If reserves are not a legal requirement, prudence would still advise banks to hold a certain percentage of their assets as cash reserves. Further protection for banks, in case they fall below reserves, is interbank lending and insurance on deposit accounts. Bank lending plays a fundamental role in determining a nation’s money supply as new money is automatically created when fractional reserve loans are issued and money disappears when the loans are repaid.

Central Bank Limitations

Despite their economic authority, central banks have limited powers to put their policies into effect. These include both restrictions placed on them by laws and the practical necessities required to prevent economic collapse.

Supervision

Some central banks can control and monitor the banking sector. However most often, banking supervision is carried out by a government department like the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Finance, or an independent government agency like the UK’s Financial Services Authority. These agencies examine the banking behaviors, balance sheets, and customer policy, as well as the transferring of funds, bank notes, coins, and foreign currency.

Independence

Advocates of central bank independence argue that a bank that is too susceptible to political pressures may contribute to cycles of economic instability. Politicians may be tempted to boost economic activity in advance of an election, causing deterioration of the long-term health of the general economy. The aim of central bank independence is primarily to prevent this type of short-term interference.

Other advocates believe that an independent central bank can run a more credible monetary policy, making market expectations more responsive to signals from the central bank. Thus, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, as independent institutions, follow a set of published inflation targets so that markets know what to expect.

However, independent central bank owners want to charge governments interest on debt and profit by fractional reserve lending to the government. Some of the most wealthy people in the world, a part of the "1%" are members of banking families that profit from loans used for wars and other non-productive economic activity.

Governments generally maintain some degree of influence over independent central banks. For example, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is appointed by the President of the United States, then confirmed by Congress. However, the powers of such appointed positions are usually highly limited. In the U.S., some of the "profits" of the Federal Reserve are given to the U.S. Treasury. Ultimate decisions regarding monetary policy are made by privately appointed figures that are independent of elected political powers. With the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, the majority power is elected by and given to members of private corporations.

Examples of Central Banks

There are more than 150 central banks throughout the world, including the U.S. Federal Reserve System and the Bank of England. The Bank of Sweden, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the People’s Bank of China are briefly detailed below.

The U.S. Federal Reserve System

The U.S. Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created via the Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913, which required all national banks to join the system. This legislation also allowed for the creation of Federal Reserve notes to maintain an elastic supply of currency. The Reserve Banks were integrated into the system one year later in 1914. The system involves some government regulation and is comprised of the Board of Governors, a Federal Open Market Committee, twelve regional Federal Reserve banks, and four private banks owning stock in regional branches.

According to the Board of Governors, the main tasks of the Federal Reserve System are:

conducting the nation’s monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates
supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation’s banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers
maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets
providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation’s payments system.

The Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom, known as "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street."

The bank was founded in 1694 by the Scotsman, William Paterson, who was delegated to act as the English government's banker by Royal Charter. The bank was originally constructed above London’s Temple of Mithras, the god of contracts. In 1734, the bank moved to its current location on Threadneedle Street, slowly acquiring the land to create the edifice seen today.

During the eighteenth century, by accordance of the Royal Charter, the bank was to keep enough gold in stock to pay its notes on demand into 1797. The government then prohibited the bank from payments of gold until 1821, as war had significantly diminished England’s gold reserves.

The 1844 Bank Charter Act allowed the bank sole rights to the issuance of banknotes. Some private banks, which had previously retained that right, continued to issue their own notes, until the last of them were taken over in the 1930s. However, the private Scottish and Northern Irish banks have continued to retain that right.

The Swedish National Bank

The Swedish National Bank, Bank of Sweden, or Sveriges Riksbank, is the world's oldest central bank, beginning its operations in 1668. Before this time, the bank was known as the Stockholms Banco or Bank of Palmstruch, founded by Johan Palmstruch in 1656 and controlled by the king.

Stockholms Banco, the world's oldest note-issuing bank, collapsed in the mid-seventeenth century as a result of issuing bank notes without necessary collateral. Palmstruch, considered responsible for the bank's losses, was condemned to death, but later received clemency. In 1668, the king-appointed privilege to operate as a national bank was transferred to the Riksens Ständers Bank, or the Bank of the Estates of the Realm, and was run by parliament. When a new Riksdag was instituted in 1866, the name of the bank was changed to Sveriges Riksbank.

The Riksbank was not permitted to issue bank notes, but in 1701 began to issue similar credit notes. In the middle of the eighteenth century, however, counterfeit notes began to circulate and the Riksbank began producing its own paper for bank notes at their personal paper mill.

Soon after, Sweden’s first commercial banks were founded and permitted to issue bank notes. The bank notes represented a claim to the bank without interest paid, and became a considerable source of income to the banks. Nonetheless, security in the form of a deposit at the Riksbank was required to cover the value of all notes issued.

During the nineteenth century, the Riksbank maintained a dominant position as a credit institution and issuer of bank notes. The bank also managed national trade transactions and provided credit to the general public. In 1897, the first Riksbank Act was passed allowing the Riksbank the exclusive right to issue bank notes and establishing the institution as an official central bank.

The European Central Bank

The ECB building in Frankfurt, Germany

Established on June 1, 1998, the European Central Bank (ECB) is centrally located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The ECB is among the world's largest central banks and is responsible for enacting monetary policy throughout the European Union. It is also responsible for maintaining control over the euro, the Union’s official currency used by more than 300 million people. The ECU is structured after Germany’s Central Bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, and was designed as an independent institution to operate without political intervention.

The ECB is headed by a single president, governed by a board of directors, and directed by a board of governors that include representatives of central banks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The ESCB’s Executive Board consists of six members that collaborate on the strategies used by the European Central Bank. Four of these six seats are reserved for representatives of the Union’s largest central banks: the Banks of France, Italy, Spain, and Germany’s Deutsche Bundesbank.

The Bank of Japan

The Bank of Japan has its headquarters in this building in Tokyo.

The Bank of Japan is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Tokyo on the site of a former gold mint. The building is located near the famous Ginza district, named after the former silver mint established there. The institution also maintains a branch in Osaka.

The central bank, established after the Meiji Restoration, was originally designed as a monopoly to control Japan’s fluctuating money supply. Before the founding of Japan’s central bank, both the central government and its national bank branches were responsible for issuing Japan’s newly established currency, the yen. As both institutions retained the right to print money, Japan battled cycles of economic instability until the founding of the Bank of Japan in 1882.

The Bank of Japan suffered a brief hiatus after World War II, when the occupying Allies issued a military currency and restructured Japan’s central bank into a more independent entity. In 1997, major revisions were made to the Bank of Japan Law to allow the central bank more independence, although it is not yet listed as an independent institution.

The People's Bank of China

The People’s Bank of China (PBC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China and remains a separate entity from the Bank of China and the Central Bank of China. The PBC regulates financial institutions and controls monetary policy throughout mainland China. The bank is structured after the United States Federal Reserve.

The PBC was founded in 1948. After the establishment of the People’s Republic, all banks were nationalized and incorporated into the PBC. PBC headquarters were first located in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, but later moved to Beijing, in 1949. For nearly thirty years the PBC remained the sole bank of the People’s Republic and was responsible for both central banking and commercial banking operations. In the 1980s, the PBC was restructured to retain only the functions of a central bank, and later, in 1998, nine regional branches were established to reduce local political influences on PBC policy making.

The Future of Central Banks

Throughout history, the main objective of a central bank has remained the maintenance of a national currency. Fostering financial stability and economic growth has also been delegated to a nation’s banking body.

In recent years, economists have highlighted the difficulties central banking institutions face, and the hardships they endure in their day to day decision making. Some have argued that the historical reliance of central banks on the gold standard continues to compromise price stability. These theorists also believe the central bank faces continuous tension to fulfill its duties of currency maintenance, while functioning as the banker to its central government. Economists also argue that the power entrusted to certain central banks is significantly restricted as government agencies have the ultimate say.

There are major policy dilemmas that face central banking institutions worldwide. These include persistent short-term fluctuations between periods of inflation and growth, the choosing of inflation targets, and general operations. Modern central banks make use of other agencies to regulate financial stability including finance ministries, financial regulators, and financial supervisors.

Central banks worldwide have undergone histories of development regarding changing ideas, theories, and perceptions about the proper role a centralized bank should play. In this era of globalization, determining the role of central banks has become even more critical. In some areas, such as the European Union, a new central bank (the European Central Bank) emerged, designed to operate independently of political intervention. On the other hand, the free banking school of thought has argued that the existence of central banking institutions is unnecessary, citing historical instabilities that have resulted from monetary and financial error.

Financial difficulties surrounding the Indonesian, South Korean, Thai, and Russian economies, and the 1930 banking collapse of the United States and the United Kingdom, have allowed modern central banks certain insight. By understanding the components of past phenomena, current economies can ensure that similar mistakes are not made. However, much political will is required to limit central banks to roles that do not invite corruption, money laundering, and wealth transfers from the middle classes to the government and financial elites. Central banks have performed useful roles in enabling the smooth expansion of economic development, but they have been misused in ways that, like the collapse of the Roman Empire through currency devaluation, shift wealth from working people to financial and government elites.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Cappie, Forest. 1995. The Future of Central Banking: The Tercentenary Symposium of the Bank of England. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521496349.

External links

All links retrieved December 3, 2023.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "Central bank"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.