Fed profits: $52 billion in 2009

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The Federal Reserve banks made a $52 billion profit in 2009, reaping extra income on the government securities they bought in an effort to stabilize the financial system.

Those deductions account for the $6 billion difference between the two figures. Federal Reserve banks paid the private banks that control them $1.4 billion in dividends in 2009, while shoring up their own capital by $4.6 billion.

The Fed's 2009 profit marks a 47% increase over 2008. It comes as the Fed took in interest payments on an expanding portfolio of securities issued by the Treasury and by the government-sponsored mortgage agencies Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500).

The Fed said last year it would buy $300 billion of Treasurys and up to $1.25 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, in addition to $175 billion of debt issued by the agencies.