The economy may have caused many big banks to have serious problems, but that wasn't the case with the Federal Reserve last year.

The Fed made $52 .1 billion, $46 .1 billion of which will be turned over to the Treasury Department, the nation's central bank announced today.

It's the largest profit and Treasury payment in the Fed's history. The profit came from earnings on securities that the bank holds.

The Fed funds all of its own operations through those securities. Like several other government agencies, including the NCUA, it doesn't receive an allocation from Congress to fund its operations.

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