Analysis of the economic situation led Bank president Eric Rosengren to call publicly, in August, for the Fed to lead a large-scale asset purchase program. By purchasing assets (e.g., securities), the Fed can reduce market interest rates and stimulate economic growth, and our researchers had been modeling the potential effects on job creation.
Using a multitude of publicly available documents, our analysts found that, absent sponsor support, at least 21 prime money market mutual funds would have “broken the buck” during the financial crisis. The research highlighted a variety of potential reforms that could enhance the resiliency of money market mutual funds, and was published in The Stability of Prime Money Market Mutual Funds: Sponsor Support from 2007 to 2011.
The Boston Fed developed and operates the Invoice Processing Platform, or IPP, for the U.S. Treasury, providing federal agencies and their suppliers with a web-based system to exchange electronic purchase orders and invoices. At the end of 2012, 56 Federal agencies were using IPP, as well as more than 66,000 vendors – double the number in 2011. The Boston Fed also built a new cash-management system for the U.S. Treasury, projected to yield $3 million in cost savings to the federal government.
The rapid profusion of mobile devices and mobile transactions underlined the importance of seeing mobile payments evolve in the public interest. The Boston Fed created a Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup in which more than 40 organizations participated in 2012.
The Boston Fed manages the Financial Support Office (FSO), which leads accounting and financial management policies, systems, and processes for the Federal Reserve System. Separately, the Boston Fed also had leadership roles in the Federal Reserve System’s Internet gateway protection, network security, secure hosting, and authentication and authorization services.
The Bank recycled 186 tons of shredded money (worn-out bills) in 2012, and achieved a 9.2 percent reduction in utility consumption thanks to energy efficiency initiatives. For the fourth consecutive year, our building earned the Energy Star designation.