Fed approves eight more discount rate cut requests

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Board said on Tuesday it approved requests from the Fed banks in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Dallas, San Francisco, and St. Louis to cut their discount rates to 4 percent from 4.75 percent.

All the actions are effective immediately, except the reduction by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, which is effective on Wednesday, the Fed said.

Earlier, the central bank had approved similar requests from the Chicago and Minneapolis regional Fed banks.

The move to lower the discount rate was made in conjunction with a decision by the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee to cut the benchmark federal funds rate target to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent.

The federal funds rate governs overnight lending between banks, while the discount rate governs direct Fed loans to banks.

The latest action leaves only the Atlanta and Kansas City Fed banks without an approved discount rate cut request. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Dan Grebler)