The federal reserve dividends are set by statute and are an unvarying 6%/yr and have been since 1913. So, in this case, the 'fed stakeholders' are the US Congre

The federal reserve dividends are set by statute and are an unvarying 6%/yr and have been since 1913. So, in this case, the 'fed stakeholders' are the US Congress. Moreover the amount of stock owned by member banks is also set by statute at 6% of the bank's capital plus surplus with the share price set at $100/share also by law. Banks are required by law to buy a certain amount of stock and they can't buy or sell the stock or loan the value of the stock as an asset (hypothocate), except to the fed as their capital goes up and down. All of this makes much more sense if you think of the Federal Reserve Banks as legally mandated bank run insurance providers. See here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section5.htm https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section5.htm So yes, the whole purpose of the fed is to ensure that we don't have a systemic, cascading bank failure (keeping musical chairs going). Banking panics and ensuing failures were a widespread problem in the 1800s and early 1900s. The Fed was established after the particularly nasty 1907 banking panic which threatened to bring down most large banks in the US and destroy the national economy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907