Summary: This testimony discusses GAO's recent report (GAO/GGD-96-128) on the Federal Reserve System, the most comprehensive review that GAO had ever undertaken of the Fed's operations. Fed operating expenses rose 48 percent from 1988 to 1994--double the rate of inflation. About 70 percent of the Fed's operating expenses were for financial services to banks and government agencies, such as check clearing and transfers--services that have no connection with the central bank's monetary policy. Monetary and economic policy activities and the Board of Governors staff accounted for only about 2,300 employees--less than 10 percent of the Fed's total workforce. The Fed's main workload today is neither policymaking nor bank supervision but rather financial services, which include currency processing, massive check-clearing operations, and funds transfer systems. And it is precisely these businesses in which the Fed is facing growing competition from the private sector. In fact, the Fed's market share in the check-clearing business has declined while its expenses have continued to rise.