How A Federal Reserve Interest Rate Hike Hands Over Billions To Big Banks

In another example of how Wall Street wins at America’s expense – again – Big Banks around the world are secretly rooting for another U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hike this week.

That’s because every  causes an immediate spike in their income.

The Big Banks already are raking in millions every year courtesy of the Fed – interest paid on the billions in reserves they have parked at the central bank. Even if the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee doesn’t raise rates at its Tuesday-Wednesday  Reserve interest rate, most market observers expect at least one or two rate hikes before the end of the year. That means billions more in payouts to Big Banks.

Last year the U.S. Federal Reserve paid out $6.9 billion to the Big Banks, including more than $100 million to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and more than $900 million to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).

Even more appalling is that nearly half of that $6.9 billion was paid to foreignbanks operating in the United States. That would include Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), UBS Group AG (NYSE ADR: UBS), and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (NYSE ADR: MFG).

“Please, please explain,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) begged of Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen at a House Financial Services Committee hearing last month.

This insanity started in 2008…

Why the Fed Writes Annual Checks to the Big Banks

Until then, the Fed didn’t pay interest on the reserves Big Banks held there.

But 2008 is when the Fed embarked on its radical monetary easing policies to combat the financial crisis. Those policies included lowering interest rates to near zero while buying up bonds and mortgage-backed securities in a series of “quantitative easing” programs.

The bond purchases added about $3.5 trillion to the Fed’s balance sheet. Those purchases were made largely through the creation of about $2.5 trillion in “excess bank reserves” now held by the Big Banks. The Fed decided it was unfair not to pay the banks a return for holding these vast reserves. (Required reserves make up only about $153 billion of the total.)