A captive regulator of the banking industry. It is a collection of economists and bankers who decide the levels banks borrow money at. It acts as a central bank, recently with more discretion to give accommodating loans.
As a regulator it's independent of almost all oversight. It also tries to regulate unregulatable macroeconomics by extending credit when banks lend more money than they have.
...an oligarchy, an ultimate usurer, a digital money printer, and underwriter of all government debt.