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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

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Home > About the Fed > Who We Are, What We Do > Performing Services for the U.S. Treasury

Performing Services for the U.S. Treasury

The Federal Reserve Banks perform several services for the Treasury Department . Chief among them is to maintain the Treasury's funds account and to clear checks drawn on that account — in essence, to act as the federal government's bank.

A few Reserve Banks also conduct nationwide auctions of Treasury securities, through which the Treasury raises money to finance government spending and refinance debt. The Philadelphia Fed is the central site for TreasuryDirect, a record-keeping system that holds, in electronic form, the securities that investors purchase directly from the Treasury. Through TreasuryDirect, securities are issued, serviced, and redeemed for 650,000 investor accounts.