The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is pleased to share audited financial statements for 2017 and offer a brief overview of the Bank’s work from the year.

The Federal Reserve Banks remit excess earnings to the U.S. Treasury after expenses, dividends, and reservation of an amount to maintain surplus. At their core, the financial statements show that the Boston Fed remitted $1.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury—part of the $80.6 billion the Federal Reserve System as a whole remitted to the U.S. Treasury during 2017.

In addition to providing the Bank’s financial statements, we would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the organization’s impact in 2017.

The Boston Fed’s Policy Impact

Throughout 2017, Boston Fed economists and analysts published research on a range of matters that contributed to national monetary policy considerations and regional economic analysis, including wages and pay, labor markets, household formation, criminal justice, and consumer and mobile payments, among other topics.

In October, the Bank’s Research department assembled economists from around the world for a well-timed discussion focused on whether monetary policy should follow a rules-based approach, or focus on outcomes (like maximum sustainable employment and price stability) and allow policymakers discretion in determining how best to achieve them.

And throughout the year, President Rosengren offered perspectives on current economic conditions, trends, financial stability concerns, and monetary policy implications in New England and beyond. He was also a contributing member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Regional Impact & Community Engagement

The Bank continued to support smaller cities in New England through the Working Cities Challenge, an initiative designed to solve issues impacting the lives of these cities’ lower-income residents via cross-sector collaboration. In 2017, the Challenge awarded three Rhode Island cities—Cranston, Newport, and Providence—implementation grants to focus on workforce development strategies within their communities. Efforts reached a pivotal milestone in Connecticut, too. Five cities—Danbury, East Hartford, Hartford, Middletown, and Waterbury—were recently awarded grants to implement efforts to help solve economic growth challenges.

The Boston Fed launched a new digital magazine, Invested. This interview-based community development publication gives us the opportunity to hear directly from stakeholders in New England in about topics impacting low- and moderate-income populations. The first issue, released in fall 2017, focuses on the basics of quality jobs.

Separately, the Boston Fed continued its efforts to mitigate cyber threats within the financial system—particularly focusing on awareness of cyber-threats, trends, and best practice information sharing through our Cyber-threat Sharing Forum for New England-based depository institutions, our involvement with the Advanced Cyber Security Center, and our second-annual Cybersecurity Conference.

Federal Reserve System-level Contributions

In addition to our regionally-focused work, the Boston Fed contributed to the Federal Reserve System’s overarching efforts. The Bank continued to deliver on System-level responsibilities, including directing financial management strategies, operations, and support; services on behalf of the U.S. Treasury Bureau of Fiscal Service; and leading efforts around the Federal Reserve’s work to reduce fraud risk and advance the safety, security, and resiliency of the U.S. payment system.

We also made System-wide contributions in new areas, including exploring distributed ledger technology or blockchain, and its implications for the financial system. Moreover, we continued to conduct research on mobile payment technologies.

Corporate Citizenship

We fulfill our mission of “Public Service That Makes a Difference” through the commitment of our employees, and it is the strength that comes from our employees both individually and collectively, in their variety of perspectives, ideas, and approaches to solve important business problems. Diversity & Inclusion are fundamental to the work we do every day.

Our #FirstServe initiative promotes a number of volunteer opportunities that are available to our employees and supports their own endeavors to volunteer and give back through a variety of civic projects and initiatives. In 2017, Bank employees contributed more than 1,150 volunteer hours dedicated to reading and literacy programs, refining interview and presentation skills, tax preparation and asset building strategies, various community clean-up efforts, and more.

This summary is intended to provide an overview of the Boston Fed’s impact in 2017. We wish to thank our Bank colleagues for their continued work to advance the mission of our organization. The Boston Fed continues to build on its commitment to serving the public thanks to the dedication of our employees and regional stakeholders who partner with us on so many significant efforts.

Sincerely,

Eric S. Rosengren
President and CEO

Kenneth C. Montgomery
First Vice President and COO

Financial Statements

• Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Financial Statements
• Federal Reserve Banks Combined Financial Statements

The Federal Reserve Board engaged KPMG to audit the 2017 combined and individual financial statements of the Reserve Banks.[1]

In 2017, KPMG also conducted audits of internal controls over financial reporting for each of the Reserve Banks. Fees for KPMG services totaled $6.8 million. To ensure auditor independence, the Board of Governors requires that KPMG be independent in all matters relating to the audits. Specifically, KPMG may not perform services for the Reserve Banks or others that would place it in a position of auditing its own work, making management decisions on behalf of the Reserve Banks, or in any other way impairing its audit independence. In 2017, the Bank did not engage KPMG for any non-audit services.