New York Fed Plans New Cash Centre

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) has announced that it plans to transition its cash operations in East Rutherford, New Jersey (NJ) to a new next-generation cash services centre within the Second District.

This new centre will support the New York cash processing services and operations, including the circulation of US notes and coins within the Second District and abroad. The Second District includes New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey, Connecticut, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and, although it serves a geographically small area compared with those of other 11 Federal Reserve Banks, the FRBNY is the largest in terms of assets and volume of activity.

The FRBNY’s unique responsibilities include acting as the primary contact with foreign central banks and undertaking the distribution of US currency overseas (60% of all US currency circulates abroad).

This includes the Foreign Bank International Cash Services (FBICS) program, which it runs on behalf of the Fed. The program, introduced in 2018, permits foreign banks and/or their parents of affiliates (wholesale banknote entities) that do not have a presence in the US to open limited purpose accounts with the FRBNY and use those accounts to access Federal Reserve Bank currency services, such as the ability to place orders on a same-day basis, to have currency orders fulfilled solely with new banknotes (as opposed to previously circulated banknotes), to deposit US currency and to receive expedited processing of large-denomination banknotes deposited with the FRBNY.