Who owns what, who chooses the decision-makers, who gets paid, and who can change the rules. We name institutions where the records support it, date every figure, and keep open questions visible.
Draft research page · figures dated as shown · last revised November 2, 2026
Every arrow below is labeled with what it means. "Holds stock in" is not the same as "controls," and "shares held by" an asset manager is not the same as the manager owning them outright. Each label is something the public record establishes.
Every national bank, and every state bank that chooses to join, must buy stock in its regional Reserve Bank equal to 6% of its capital and surplus, with half paid in. Because the formula is set by law, each bank's share can be estimated from the capital it reports to regulators. Our estimate covers all 1,357 member banks and adds up to $40.5 billion of paid-in stock; the Fed itself reports $40.9 billion.
Five banks hold about half of all Reserve Bank stock. The ten largest hold about 62%. Foreign-owned banks are stockholders too, including subsidiaries of Bank of Montreal, Toronto-Dominion, HSBC and Santander.
Method: capital stock + surplus + perpetual preferred stock from Call Reports for June 30, 2026 (FDIC BankFind API), times 3%. Total compared with "Capital paid in," Federal Reserve H.4.1 release, October 29, 2026. This is an estimate, not the Reserve Banks' own register, which is not published. The stock cannot be sold or pledged; it pays a dividend capped by law (6%, or for banks over about $10 billion in assets the lower of 6% and the 10-year Treasury yield) and gives each bank one vote in director elections within its size group. Full list: download coming.
The banks that hold the stock belong to holding companies, and those companies disclose every shareholder with 5% or more. Across the twenty parents behind about 78% of Reserve Bank stock, Vanguard and BlackRock are the two largest disclosed holders at 16 of the 17 U.S. parents, usually 7–13% each. Weighted by Reserve Bank stock, Vanguard reports about 8.5% of these parents, BlackRock about 8% and State Street about 4.5%: together, roughly a fifth.
Only a few large holders own their shares for themselves: Berkshire Hathaway (about 7% of Bank of America and 9% of Ally), Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (24% of Morgan Stanley) and Charles R. Schwab personally (5.9% of Schwab).
Source: "security ownership of certain beneficial owners" tables in each company's 2026 proxy statement (SEC form DEF 14A) and the Schedule 13G/13D or Form 13F filings they cite, with filing dates shown; HSBC from its 2025 Annual Report. Proxy figures often rely on filings from earlier years. In January 2026 Vanguard reorganized and began reporting through separate units ("VCM", "VPM"), so spring 2026 proxies may show older combined figures. Holdings by asset managers are mostly held for clients.
The trail does not end in a single family or secret board. It ends in a small circle of fund managers who hold stakes in the banks and in one another, voting the shares of millions of investors. Ownership is broad; voting power over those shares is concentrated.
Sources: 2026 proxy statements of BlackRock, State Street and Berkshire Hathaway; Vanguard, "Our unique ownership structure." On the concentration of voting power, see Fichtner, Heemskerk and Garcia-Bernardo, "Hidden power of the Big Three?" Business and Politics (2017).
"The banks" are paid through several separate streams. Keeping them apart is what makes the case hold up.
Sources: Monthly Treasury Statement, September 2026; Federal Reserve combined financial statements 2025; H.4.1, October 29, 2026. These are separate flows: Treasury interest does not go to Reserve Bank stockholders as such.
Of about $40.6 trillion in total debt (October 29, 2026), $32.7 trillion is held by the public and $7.9 trillion by federal trust funds such as Social Security: the government owing itself. Holders of the public part, March 31, 2026:
Estimated split of the interest: about 31% abroad (roughly $335 billion), about 10% to the Fed, about 60% to U.S. holders. Among American households, the wealthiest tenth hold about 79% of directly held government bonds and money-market fund shares; the bottom half hold under 2%.
Sources: Debt to the Penny; Treasury Bulletin OFS-2 (Sept. 2026 issue, data to March 31, 2026); Treasury International Capital, Major Foreign Holders (Aug. 2026); Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts, 2026:Q2. The interest split is our estimate (holdings share × average rate); a measured figure for interest paid to foreigners, $282 billion in 2025 (BEA), is consistent with it. Holdings by country reflect where securities are held in custody, not always who ultimately owns them.
Member banks elect six of each Reserve Bank's nine directors: three bankers (Class A) and three who represent the public (Class B). The Board of Governors appoints the other three (Class C). Reserve Bank presidents are chosen by the Class B and C directors, subject to the Board's approval. Five of the twelve votes on the committee that sets interest rates belong to Reserve Bank presidents.
In 2007 Alan Greenspan told Jim Lehrer that "no other agency of government" can overrule the Fed's actions. That describes independence from the President. Congress can still change the Fed's powers by law, and Greenspan acknowledged as much in a 2009 interview. Whether Congress would is a political question, not a legal one.
Sources: Federal Reserve Act § 4; Board FAQ, "How is a Federal Reserve Bank president selected?"; NewsHour, September 18, 2007 (American Archive of Public Broadcasting); Federal Reserve Oral History, Alan Greenspan, March 31, 2009.
Most central banks are wholly owned by their governments: England, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, China, India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico among them. Several began as private institutions and were nationalized between 1938 and 1949; Austria's followed in 2010. A handful still have private shareholders: the United States, Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, Greece, South Africa, Italy and Turkey. In every case checked, private dividends are capped, profits above the cap go to the state, and shareholders have no say over monetary policy.
Italy is the closest parallel to the Fed: its central bank is owned by Italian banks, insurers, foundations and pension funds, each capped at 5%. The Bank for International Settlements in Basel is owned by 63 central banks; it bought out its private shareholders in 2001, and an international tribunal later ruled it had paid them too little.
Sources: central banks' statutes and annual reports; BIS; Permanent Court of Arbitration (2003). Full survey with per-bank sources: download coming.
Replacing an institution does not remove concentrated power. The People's Money design would give real authority to whoever writes the rule, produces its data, runs payment accounts and approves emergencies. Each needs written limits, a way to challenge decisions, and consequences for failure. We will ask of our own design the questions we ask of today's: Who can change the rules? Who can freeze an account? Who bears losses? What happens when data or the rule fails? Could a smaller reform get most of the benefit with less risk?
Found an error? Corrections will be logged with dates on the Evidence page.