Central Banks

U.S. Federal Reserve System (The Fed)

The Federal Reserve is probably the most influential central bank in the world. With the U.S. dollar being on the other side of approximately 90% of all currency transactions, the Fed's sway has a sweeping effect on the valuation of many currencies. The group within the Fed that decides on interest rates is the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which consists of seven governors of the Federal Reserve Board plus five presidents of the 12 district reserve banks.

Mandate - Long-term price stability and sustainable growth

Frequency of Meeting - Eight times a year

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

European Central Bank (ECB)

Structure - The European Central Bank was established in 1999. The governing council of the ECB is the group that decides on changes to monetary policy. The council consists of the six members of the executive board of the ECB, plus the governors of all the national central banks from the 12 euro area countries. As a central bank, the ECB does not like surprises. Therefore, whenever it plans on making a change to interest rates, it will generally give the market ample notice by warning of an impending move through comments to the press.

Mandate - Price stability and sustainable growth. However, unlike the Fed, the ECB strives to maintain the annual growth in consumer prices below 2%. As an export dependent economy, the ECB also has a vested interest in preventing against excess strength in its currency because this poses a risk to its export market.

Frequency of Meeting - Bi-weekly, but policy decisions are generally only made at meetings where there is an accompanying press conference. These happen 11 times a year.

European Central Bank

Bank of England (BoE)

Structure - The monetary policy committee of the Bank of England is a nine-member committee consisting of a governor, two deputy governors, two executive directors and four outside experts. The BoE, under the leadership of Mervyn King, is frequently touted as one of the most effective central banks.

Mandate - To maintain monetary and financial stability. The BoE's monetary policy mandate is to keep prices stable and to maintain confidence in the currency. To accomplish this, the central bank has an inflation target of 2%. If prices breach that level, the central bank will look to curb inflation, while a level far below 2% will prompt the central bank to take measures to boost inflation.

Frequency of Meeting - Monthly

Bank of England

Bank of Japan (BOJ)

Structure - The Bank of Japan's monetary policy committee consists of the BoJ governor, two deputy governors and six other members. Because Japan is very dependent on exports, the BoJ has an even more active interest than the ECB does in preventing an excessively strong currency. The central bank has been known to come into the open market to artificially weaken its currency by selling it against U.S. dollars and euros. The BoJ is also extremely vocal when it feels concerned about excess currency volatility and strength.

Mandate - To maintain price stability and to ensure stability of the financial system, which makes inflation the central bank's top focus.

Frequency of Meeting - Once or twice a month

Bank of Japan

Swiss National Bank (SNB)

Structure - The Swiss National Bank has a three-person committee that makes decisions on interest rates. Unlike most other central banks, the SNB determines the interest rate band rather than a specific target rate. Like Japan and the euro zone, Switzerland is also very export dependent, which means that the SNB also does not have an interest in seeing its currency become too strong. Therefore its general bias is to be more conservative with rate hikes.

Mandate - To ensure price stability while taking the economic situation into account

Frequency of Meeting - Quarterly

Swiss National Bank

Bank of Canada (BoC)

Structure - Monetary policy decisions within the Bank of Canada are made by a consensus vote by Governing Council, which consists of the Bank of Canada governor, the senior deputy governor and four deputy governors.

Mandate - Maintaining the integrity and value of the currency. The central bank has an inflation target of 1-3%, and it has done a good job of keeping inflation within that band since 1998.

Frequency of Meeting - Eight times a year

Bank of Canada

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)

Structure - The Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy committee consists of the central bank governor, the deputy governor, the secretary to the treasurer and six independent members appointed by the government.

Mandate - To ensure stability of currency, maintenance of full employment and economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia. The central bank has an inflation target of 2-3% per year.

Frequency of Meeting - Eleven times a year, usually on the first Tuesday of each month (with the exception of January)

Reserve Bank of Australia

Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)

Structure - Unlike other central banks, decision-making power on monetary policy ultimately rests with the central bank governor.

Mandate - To maintain price stability and to avoid instability in output, interest rates and exchange rates. The RBNZ has an inflation target of 1.5%. It focuses hard on this target, because failure to meet it could result in the dismissal of the governor of the RBNZ.

Frequency of Meeting - Eight times a year

Reserve Bank of New Zealand

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