One of 12 regional banks in the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond oversees system member banks and bank holding companies in Virginia; Maryland; the Carolinas; Washington, DC; and most of West Virginia. It conducts examinations and investigations of member institutions, distributes money, issues savings bonds and Treasury securities, and assists the Fed in setting monetary policy. The bank also processes checks and acts as a clearinghouse for payments between banks. Federal Reserve Banks are not-for-profit and return earnings (gleaned mostly from investments in government paper) to the US Treasury.