Fed Pumped Record $88.9B in Profits to Treasury in 2012

The Federal Reserve pumped a record $88.9 billion into the U.S. Treasury last year, the spoils of big profits made on its vast holdings of securities, the U.S. central bank said on Thursday.

The Fed said the money was earned primarily from interest payments on the securities in its multi-trillion dollar portfolio of U.S. government debt and bonds related to the housing industry.

Each year, the central bank sends its earnings, minus operating costs and other expenses, to the Treasury.

The 2012 figure eclipsed the prior record of $79.3 billion deposited into government coffers in 2010.

The Fed estimated its net income for last year at $91 billion.