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Read the last few sentences critically. Each regional federal reserve bank (there are several) is owned by private banks. The profits are merely capped.

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The ownership is nothing more than symbolic. They have absolutely no control over the Federal Reserve. They can set no policy, they dictate nothing through the 'ownership.' They receive profits in exchange for participating in the system, it's a lure for drawing in private banking participation.

The profit share ("dividends") the banks receive is trivial, a couple percent of the Fed's profits. Typically 96-98% of profit is sent to the US Treasury.

Who sets the policy?

I have no idea why you're being downvoted; anybody should be able to understand that the Fed is independent (from the "government" in the typical sense of the word, but especially from private interests) by simply googling it. Do these conspiracy theorists really believe the Fed is secretly controlled by a cabal of private banks or something?

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