Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• FEDERAL FUNDS
  
  funds on deposit in a financial intermediary's reserve account at its district Federal Reserve Bank. A member of the Federal Reserve is required to maintain a minimum average balance during any one week, based on its deposit levels during the two previous weeks. Larger commercial banks tend to need extra funds to meet minimum reserve requirements, and often borrow from other institutions, particularly smaller institutions, which usually have excess funds to lend. The seller, or lender, of federal funds can be another commercial bank within the Federal Reserve System, a nonFederal Reserve member such as a Federal Home Loan Bank or an individual thrift institution which has a surplus of funds to invest on a short-term basis. The exchange of funds between lenders and borrowers occurs in the informal federal funds market, either directly between institutions or through brokers. Whereas the bulk of these funds are lent on an overnight basis, some funds referred to as term federal funds, are lent for longer periods.
  
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