Waller promotes the centralization of the Federal Reserve's supportive functions

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is advocating for a new model in handling the supportive functions of the Federal Reserve System. He believes that centralizing functions such as human resources, information technology (IT), and risk management will help improve efficiency and management. Waller stated at a monetary policy meeting held Friday afternoon at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution that currently, in many cases, these operational functions are handled independently by the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, which largely operate independently of each other and are responsible to their respective boards. According to his prepared remarks, Waller said, “Under the new plan, the entire system and ultimately taxpayers will benefit from lower operating costs and better overall risk management, and services can be delivered consistently across the Reserve Banks.” Waller noted that the details of the new plan are still to be finalized. Under the plan, each individual support function—such as human resources—will be managed by one Reserve Bank, which will operate like a contractor for the other Reserve Banks. In exchange, the other Reserve Banks will relinquish some daily decision-making authority over how these functions are handled. Waller said, “The foundation for driving an important change is now in place.”