Cash Operations

The Federal Reserve System is responsible for distributing currency and coin and ensuring that the currency is genuine and fit for commerce. The Federal Reserve Board issues the nation’s currency in the form of Federal Reserve notes to the Reserve Banks. In turn, the Reserve Banks distribute currency to the public through approximately 8,400 banks, savings and loans, and credit unions. To facilitate this distribution, the Federal Reserve System operates 28 cash processing locations in the United States. Five of these are located in the SF Fed’s District. Through these cash processing locations, U.S. banks order currency and coin and deposit excess banknotes with the Federal Reserve.