South Florida is known for its beaches and its vibrant nightlife, but it’s also an invaluable source that helps paint a bigger picture of the overall health of the economy.
“Miami’s got a really vibrant and diverse economy,” said Shari Bower, regional executive for the Miami branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
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WATCH HEREBower sat down with NBC6 in November for a rare interview inside the Miami branch to give a glimpse of how South Florida falls into the country’s economic puzzle.
“The variety of industries that we have across the Southeast really closely reflects the nation’s economy,” she said.
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The Miami branch of the Fed was established in the 1970s. A small museum shows how it has evolved over the years and even has a few remnants of the past on full display, including actual bills that were printed at local banks in Florida. Today, the branch services 13 Florida counties, as well as about 30 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Europe.
“And we’re actually the third largest currency processing center for the Fed, after the New York and San Francisco Feds,” Bower explained. “We’ve got a vibrant and growing economy across South Florida and we really want to make sure that we’re servicing that economy.”
The Federal Reserve is our country’s central bank, with regional branches across the country. Miami falls under the Atlanta branch of the bank. Bower said her team here in South Florida is constantly collecting information from business and community leaders.
Responds
Responding to every consumer complaint
“We ask questions about labor – are you hiring? Are you maintaining? Are you laying people off?” she said. “We ask questions about consumer demand – are they seeing consumers continuing to spend? What do sales and revenue look like for your business? What are your expectations for the year ahead? We ask questions about how interest rates are impacting their own investment decisions and how prices and costs are impacting their ability to attract customers.”
Key information that eventually makes its way to headquarters in Washington.
“A lot of people, when they think about the Fed, they sort of think you’ve got these academics in an ivory tower that are totally out of touch with the everyday person,” Bower said. “The Atlanta Fed has created an entire team of people whose sole responsibility is to have boots on the ground in the communities that we serve.”
Walk-in tours are available in Atlanta, but you won’t be able to do that at the Miami branch. According to its website, the local branch typically offers guided tours, but those are not available for now because of construction projects at the site.
