And where did the other $2B go. Its not like we are talking thousands or hundreds of thousands.
$2B in profit is quite a lot to spread amongst a relative few people.
For immediate release
The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced preliminary unaudited results indicating that the Reserve Banks provided for payments of approximately $88.9 billion of their estimated 2012 net income to the U.S. Treasury. Under the Board's policy, the residual earnings of each Federal Reserve Bank are distributed to the U.S. Treasury, after providing for the costs of operations, payment of dividends, and the amount necessary to equate surplus with capital paid-in.
The Federal Reserve Banks’ 2012 estimated net income of $91.0 billion was derived primarily from $80.5 billion in interest income on securities acquired through open market operations (U.S. Treasury securities, federal agency and government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and GSE debt securities). Additional earnings were derived primarily from net realized gains on the sale of U.S. Treasury securities of $13.3 billion, net income of $6.1 billion attributable to the consolidated limited liability companies that were created in response to the financial crisis, and income from services of $450 million, offset by losses of $1.1 billion that result from the daily revaluation of foreign currency denominated asset holdings at current exchange rates. The Reserve Banks had interest expense of $3.9 billion on depository institutions’ reserve balances.
Operating expenses of the Reserve Banks, net of amounts reimbursed by the U.S. Treasury and other entities for services the Reserve Banks provided as fiscal agents, totaled $3.7 billion in 2012. In addition, the Reserve Banks were assessed $1.2 billion for the cost of new currency and Board expenditures, and $387 million to fund the operations of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and Office of Financial Research. In 2012, statutory dividends totaled $1.6 billion and $461 million of net income was used to equate surplus to capital paid-in.
The preliminary unaudited results include valuation adjustments as of September 30 for Term Asset–Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) loans and the consolidated limited liability companies. The final results, which will be presented in the Reserve Banks’ annual audited financial statements and the Board of Governors’ Annual Report, will reflect valuation adjustments as of December 31.
The attached chart illustrates the amount of Federal Reserve Banks’ residual earnings distributed to the U.S. Treasury from 2003 through 2012 (estimated).
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http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/20130110a.htm