The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies today issued final rules to implement a special post-employment restriction on certain senior examiners employed by an agency or Federal Reserve Bank, as required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

Under the final rules, if an examiner serves as the senior examiner for a depository institution or depository institution holding company for two or more months during the examiner’s final twelve months of employment with an agency or Federal Reserve Bank, the examiner may not knowingly accept compensation as an employee, officer, director, or consultant from that institution or holding company, or from certain related entities.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 4 percent.

Elevated energy prices and hurricane-related disruptions in economic activity have temporarily depressed output and employment. However, monetary policy accommodation, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity that will likely be augmented by planned rebuilding in the hurricane-affected areas. The cumulative rise in energy and other costs have the potential to add to inflation pressures; however, core inflation has been relatively low in recent months and longer-term inflation expectations remain contained.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

The federal banking agencies have published an interagency advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) regarding potential revisions to the existing risk-based capital framework. These changes would apply to banks, bank holding companies, and savings associations. The ANPR document discusses various modifications to the U.S. risk-based capital standards including:

• Increasing the number of risk weight categories to which credit exposures may be assigned;

• Expanding the use of external credit ratings as an indicator of credit risk for externally-rated exposures;

• Expanding the range of collateral and guarantors that may qualify an exposure for lower risk weights;

• Using loan-to-value ratios, credit assessments, and other broad measures of credit risk for assigning risk-weights to residential mortgages;

• Modifying the credit conversion factor for various commitments, including those with an original maturity of under one year;

• Requiring that certain loans 90 days or more past due or in a non-accrual status be assigned to a higher risk weight category;

• Modifying the risk-based capital requirements for certain commercial real estate exposures;

• Increasing the risk sensitivity of capital requirements for other types of retail, multifamily, small business, and commercial exposures; and

• Assessing a risk-based capital charge to reflect the risks in securitizations with early amortization provisions that are backed by revolving retail exposures.

The Federal Reserve Board announced its approval of an order waiving its appraisal requirements for three years for regulated financial institutions affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This action was coordinated with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Thrift Supervision, and National Credit Union Administration, collectively referred to as "the agencies."

The waiver covers transactions involving real estate located in certain Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas counties and Louisiana parishes that have been designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as qualifying for "Individual and Public Assistance (all categories)" and "Individual and Public Assistance (Categories A and B)" as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Federal Reserve Board has decided to request public comment on proposed revisions to the U.S. risk-based capital standards for banking organizations. These current standards are based upon the 1988 Basel Capital Accord, also known as Basel I.

The proposed revisions should more closely align risk-based capital requirements with the risk inherent in various exposures and could mitigate competitive inequalities that may arise as new capital rules, known as Basel II, are implemented for the most complex internationally active banking organizations.

The Federal Reserve Board announced the annual indexing of the low reserve tranche and of the reserve requirement exemption amount for 2006. These amounts are used in the calculation of reserve requirements of depository institutions. The Board also announced the annual indexing of the nonexempt deposit cutoff level and the reduced reporting limit that will be used to determine deposit reporting panels effective September 2006.

All depository institutions must hold a percentage of certain types of deposits as reserves in the form of vault cash, as a deposit in a Federal Reserve Bank, or as a deposit in a pass-through account at a correspondent institution. Reserve requirements currently are assessed on the depository institution's net transaction accounts (mostly checking accounts). Depository institutions must also regularly submit reports of their deposits and other reservable liabilities.

For reserve requirements in 2006, the first $7.8 million of net transaction accounts (up from $7.0 million in 2005), will be exempt from reserve requirements. A 3 percent reserve ratio will be assessed on net transaction accounts over $7.8 million up to and including $48.3 million (up from $47.6 million in 2005). A 10 percent reserve ratio will be assessed on net transaction accounts in excess of $48.3 million.

For depository institutions that report weekly, the low reserve tranche and the reserve requirement exemption amount for 2006 will first apply to the fourteen-day reserve computation period that begins Tuesday, November 22, 2005 and the corresponding fourteen-day reserve maintenance period that begins Thursday, December 22, 2005.

For depository institutions that report quarterly, the low reserve tranche and the reserve requirement exemption amount for 2006 will first apply to the seven-day reserve computation period that begins Tuesday, December 20, 2005, and the corresponding seven-day reserve maintenance period that begins Thursday, January 19, 2006.

The federal banking agencies announced the issuance of orders granting emergency relief to bank transfer agents affected by Hurricane Katrina. The orders cover national banks, state member banks, state nonmember banks, bank holding companies, and bank subsidiaries. The relief applies retroactively for the period beginning August 29, 2005 through October 17, 2005.

Transfer agents maintain records related to the issuance and transfer of securities and provide operational assistance in the sale and transfer of ownership of securities. These agents also may disburse dividends and send corporate information, including proxies, to holders of securities. The storm and its aftermath have resulted in a lack of communications, facilities, and available staff, that could hamper the efforts of transfer agents to access securities, records, and funds, and to process securities transactions.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3-3/4 percent.

Output appeared poised to continue growing at a good pace before the tragic toll of Hurricane Katrina. The widespread devastation in the Gulf region, the associated dislocation of economic activity, and the boost to energy prices imply that spending, production, and employment will be set back in the near term. In addition to elevating premiums for some energy products, the disruption to the production and refining infrastructure may add to energy price volatility.

While these unfortunate developments have increased uncertainty about near-term economic performance, it is the Committee's view that they do not pose a more persistent threat. Rather, monetary policy accommodation, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Higher energy and other costs have the potential to add to inflation pressures. However, core inflation has been relatively low in recent months and longer-term inflation expectations remain contained.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern. Voting against was Mark W. Olson, who preferred no change in the federal funds rate target at this meeting.

The Federal Open Market Committee on Friday announced a change in its tentative meeting schedule for 2006.

The Committee plans to hold its first scheduled meeting of the year on Tuesday, January 31. It had previously planned to meet for two days: January 31 and February 1. This schedule change avoids a meeting that spans the terms of two Chairmen.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision (the agencies), and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors are asking insured depository institutions to consider all reasonable and prudent steps to assist customers’ and credit union members’ cash and financial needs in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. The agencies are working with state regulatory agencies, financial industry trade groups, and affected financial institutions to identify customer needs and monitor institutions’ restoration of services.

The agencies remind the public that deposit insurance is in full force and that money in FDIC- or NCUA-insured accounts is protected by federal deposit insurance.

The agencies encourage financial institutions to assist affected institutions and consider all reasonable and prudent actions that could help meet the critical financial needs of their customers and their communities. To the extent consistent with safe and sound banking practices, such actions may include:

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3-1/2 percent.

The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Aggregate spending, despite high energy prices, appears to have strengthened since late winter, and labor market conditions continue to improve gradually. Core inflation has been relatively low in recent months and longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained, but pressures on inflation have stayed elevated.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

The federal banking and thrift agencies, along with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), announced registration details for a live webcast of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual outreach event in New York on August 22.

The webcast is open to all parties interested in BSA/AML compliance issues, but registration is required. The outreach event will be held from 9 a.m. to noon EDT and will be available for on-demand viewing for three months following the presentation.

The event is part of a series of briefings for the banking industry and field examiners on the BSA/AML Examination Manual. The host organizations are the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and FinCEN. Also participating in these outreach events are state banking agencies, Office of Foreign Assets Control, banking organizations, and banking trade associations.

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday launched a new online project with USA Today that teaches middle school and high school students about economics and personal finances by challenging them to construct a newspaper front page.

Students are provided with instructions and a template of the front page of The Fed Today. Over four weeks, they are expected to consult the Federal Reserve’s recently redesigned education web site—FederalReserveEducation.org—for information needed to complete all of the elements of the page, including headlines, photos, captions, graphs and statistics. The project helps teachers meet national and state academic content standards for high school economics and personal finance courses.

The Federal banking and thrift agencies, along with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), announced registration details for the upcoming outreach events related to the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual that was released on June 30. The events include:

• Three nationwide conference calls to be held August 2–4, 2005; and

• Five regional half-day outreach meetings, including a simulcast of one of the meetings via the Internet.

These meetings will be held in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Miami. Banking organizations are encouraged to participate in these voluntary sessions. The content of these events is similar, and that should be factored into a banking organization’s decision to participate in the sessions. During these events, the BSA/AML Examination Manual will be discussed and examination expectations will be provided. There will also be an opportunity to provide feedback, ask questions, and address implementation issues.

Participating in the outreach sessions will be the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and FinCEN.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3-1/4 percent.

The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Although energy prices have risen further, the expansion remains firm and labor market conditions continue to improve gradually. Pressures on inflation have stayed elevated, but longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Edward M. Gramlich; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

Minneapolis, Minn., June 28, 2005–The Federal Reserve Banks today announced changes to cash services that are intended to improve operating effectiveness by providing cash services at some locations using different distribution methods.

The Reserve Banks plan in the next six to twelve months to switch from branch-based cash services to cash depots in Birmingham, Ala.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Portland, Ore. These changes are part of a broader effort to update the Federal Reserve’s infrastructure for processing currency.

A cash depot is an alternative market presence for Federal Reserve cash services. With a cash depot, the Federal Reserve contracts with a third party—usually an armored carrier—that acts as a secure collection point for Federal Reserve currency deposits from the region’s depository institutions. The depot also distributes currency orders that depository institutions have placed with the Reserve Bank. The work of counting deposits and preparing orders is done by a Federal Reserve office in another city. The Federal Reserve pays for the transportation between the Reserve Bank office and the depot operator. The operator follows strict procedures developed by the Federal Reserve.

The Birmingham cash depot will be serviced by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s head office, the Oklahoma City cash depot will be serviced by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ head office, and the Portland cash depot will be serviced by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Seattle office. Approximately 50 cash employees work at the Birmingham, Oklahoma City, and Portland branches combined, but the number that will be affected by these changes is undetermined at this time. The Reserve Banks will offer a variety of programs to staff that are affected by these decisions, including separation packages, extended medical coverage and career transition assistance.

On June 15, 2005 the Federal Reserve Board announced that it is seeking nominations for appointments to its Consumer Advisory Council.

The Council advises the Board on the exercise of its responsibilities under various consumer financial services laws and on other matters on which the Board seeks advice. The group meets in Washington, D.C., three times a year.

On May 18, 2005 Edward M. Gramlich submitted his resignation as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, effective August 31, 2005.

Gramlich, who has been a member of the Board since November 5, 1997, submitted his letter of resignation to President Bush. In view of his impending departure and in keeping with Federal Open Market Committee practice, he will not attend the August 9 meeting of the FOMC.

"Ned has contributed powerfully to the work of the Board and of the FOMC for nearly eight years," said Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan. "Our deliberations have been enriched by his keen insights, his good humor and his lively mind."

Gramlich is resigning to pursue several teaching and research interests. He will become the Richard A. Musgrave Collegiate Professor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, teaching in that program and in the new Michigan in Washington Program. He will also hold a part-time appointment as Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Edward M. Gramlich; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies have jointly issued Interagency Guidance on Response Programs for Unauthorized Access to Customer Information and Customer Notice. The guidance interprets the agencies' customer information security standards and states that financial institutions should implement a response program to address security breaches involving customer information. The response program should include procedures to notify customers about incidents of unauthorized access to customer information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to the customer.

On March 22, 2005 The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 2-3/4 percent.

The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Output evidently continues to grow at a solid pace despite the rise in energy prices, and labor market conditions continue to improve gradually. Though longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained, pressures on inflation have picked up in recent months and pricing power is more evident. The rise in energy prices, however, has not notably fed through to core consumer prices.

The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Ben S. Bernanke; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Edward M. Gramlich; Jack Guynn; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.

On February 28, 2005 the Federal Reserve Board approved the Federal Reserve Banks’ proposal to stop providing services to depository institutions for the collection and processing of definitive municipal securities. The Reserve Banks will stop accepting deposits of bonds and coupons on September 30, 2005, and will complete the withdrawal from the noncash collection service on December 30, 2005.

Definitive municipal securities are registered or bearer bonds that have been issued by state and local governments with interest coupons in certificated, or physical, form. Municipal bond and coupon volume has been declining since the passage of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, which effectively eliminated the issuance of municipal bearer bonds. The noncash collection service is provided centrally by the Jacksonville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and represented less than 0.2 percent of the Reserve Banks’ total priced financial services costs in 2004.

The federal bank and credit union regulatory agencies today announced final joint guidance to assist insured depository institutions in the disclosure and administration of overdraft protection programs.

Depository institutions may offer overdraft protection programs to transaction account customers as an alternative to traditional ways of covering overdrafts. In response to concerns about the marketing, disclosure, and implementation of these programs, the agencies published for comment proposed interagency guidance on overdraft protection programs in June 2004. The final joint guidance responds to comments received by consumer and community groups, individual consumers, depository institutions, trade associations, vendors offering overdraft protection products, other industry representatives, and state agencies.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 2-1/2 percent.

The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Output appears to be growing at a moderate pace despite the rise in energy prices, and labor market conditions continue to improve gradually. Inflation and longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained.

The Committee perceives the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability for the next few quarters to be roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be relatively low, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Ben S. Bernanke; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Edward M. Gramlich; Jack Guynn; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.