12 U.S.C. § 304

Class A and class B directors; selection

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Directors of class A and class B shall be chosen in the following manner: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall classify the member banks of the district into three general groups or divisions designating each group by number. Each group shall consist as nearly as may be of banks of similar capitalization. Each member bank shall be permitted to nominate to the chairman of the board of directors of the Federal reserve bank of the district one candidate for director of class A and one candidate for director of class B. The candidates so nominated shall be listed by the chairman, indicating by whom nominated, and a copy of said list shall, within fifteen days after its completion, be furnished by the chairman to each member bank. Each member bank by a resolution of the board or by an amendment to its bylaws shall authorize its president, cashier, or some other officer to cast the vote of the member bank in the elections of class A and class B directors: Provided, That whenever any member banks within the same Federal Reserve district are subsidiaries of the same bank holding company within the meaning of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 [12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.], participation in any such nomination or election by such member banks, including such bank holding company if it is also a member bank, shall be confined to one of such banks, which may be designated for the purpose by such holding company.

Within fifteen days after receipt of the list of candidates the duly authorized officer of a member bank shall certify to the chairman his first, second, and other choices for director of class A and class B, respectively, upon a preferential ballot upon a form furnished by the chairman of the board of directors of the Federal reserve bank of the district. Each such officer shall make a cross opposite the name of the first, second, and other choices for a director of class A and for a director of class B, but shall not vote more than one choice for any one candidate. No officer or director of a member bank shall be eligible to serve as a class A director unless nominated and elected by banks which are members of the same group as the member bank of which he is an officer or director.

Any person who is an officer or director of more than one member bank shall not be eligible for nomination as a class A director except by banks in the same group as the bank having the largest aggregate resources of any of those of which such person is an officer or director.

Any candidate having a majority of all votes cast in the column of first choice shall be declared elected. If no candidate have a majority of all the votes in the first column, then there shall be added together the votes cast by the electors for such candidates in the second column and the votes cast for the several candidates in the first column. The candidate then having a majority of the electors voting and the highest number of combined votes shall be declared elected. If no candidate have a majority of electors voting and the highest number of votes when the first and second choices shall have been added, then the votes cast in the third column for other choices shall be added together in like manner, and the candidate then having the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. An immediate report of election shall be declared.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2019–2026 · leading case: United States v. Wells Fargo, 943 F.3d 588 (2d Cir. 2019).

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United States v. Wells Fargo, 943 F.3d 588 (2d Cir. 2019). “Although member banks are authorized to vote for six of each Reserve Bank’s nine directors (the Class A and B directors), 12 U.S.C. § 304 , they are permitted to serve only as Class A directors, id.”

Appointment & Removal of Fed. Reserve Bank Members of the Fed. Open Mkt. Comm. (OLC 2019). “See 12 U.S.C. § 304 . The proposed legislation would not have directly affected this long-standing method of selecting the directors of the Reserve Banks.”

Custodia Bank v. Fed. Reserve Bd. of Governors (10th Cir. 2026). “But the processes for appointing and removing Reserve Bank presidents—which involve boards of directors composed of private citizens selected, in part, by private member banks, see 12 U.S.C. §§ 304–05, 7 Appellate Case: 24-8024 Document: 201 Date Filed: 03/13/2026 Page: 10…”

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