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Maintaining Financial Stability

Fires, floods, hurricanes — every disaster brings uncertainty. Schools, shops, and banks close. Houses and businesses are damaged or lost. Lives are disrupted.

When the disaster passes and lives begin to return to normal, people need to know they can get cash, they can pay their bills, they can count on the direct deposit of their payroll and Social Security checks, and they can reopen their businesses.

The Federal Reserve makes sure banks and other depository institutions have the money people need. It speeds cash to banks in disaster areas — its payment services make sure that checks clear and funds can be electronically transferred. The Fed’s credit assistance to banks ensures financial stability and helps the economy recover.

One crisis tested the Fed's system to the extreme. The terrorist strikes on September 11, 2001 were not only attacks on our freedom; they were attacks on our financial system as well. But our financial system held firm, in large part because the Fed was prepared to respond.