District Circular Letters

The Federal Reserve Board launched a new interactive website on February 19, 2010 to help consumers better understand the new credit card protections that went into effect on February 22. These rules ban several harmful practices and require greater transparency in the disclosure of the terms and conditions of credit card accounts.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), on behalf of its members, released an updated edition of its white paper on February 16, 2010 on mortgage fraud detection and deterrence. The white paper defines various types of fraud, gives examples of how individuals commit fraud, provides a list of red flags, and outlines best practices. […]

The federal financial regulatory agencies and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (the regulators) issued a statement on February 5, 2010 on prudent lending to creditworthy small business borrowers.1 The regulators recognize that small businesses play an important role in the economy and know that some are experiencing difficulty in obtaining or renewing credit.

Enclosed is an amendment to the rates of interest on advances and discounts in the Twelfth Federal Reserve District. The enclosure, which is effective February 19, 2010, reflects an increase from 0.50% to 0.75% in the basic discount rate that applies to our short-term primary credit advances.

The Federal Reserve launched a website on February 1, 2010 to help new bank directors learn how they can work to ensure the safety and soundness of their institutions. The website, BankDirectorsDesktop.org, also provides a refresher course for experienced board members.

The Federal Reserve Board approved a final rule on January 12, 2010 amending Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to protect consumers who use credit cards from a number of costly practices. Credit card issuers must comply with most aspects of the rule beginning on February 22, 2010.

The Federal Reserve released an advisory on January 7, 2010 reminding depository institutions of supervisory expectations for sound practices in managing interest rate risk. This advisory, adopted along with the other financial regulators, reiterates the importance of effective corporate governance, policies and procedures, risk measuring and monitoring systems, stress testing, and internal controls related to […]

The federal banking and thrift regulatory agencies announced on January 21, 2010 the final risk-based capital rule related to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's adoption of Statements of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 166 and 167. These new accounting standards make substantive changes to how banking organizations account for many items, including securitized assets, that had […]

Appendix A provides a routing symbol guide that helps depository institutions determine the maximum permissible hold periods for most deposited checks. On February 27, 2010, the Reserve Banks will transfer the check-processing operations of the head office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to the head office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. […]

The federal bank regulatory agencies announced on December 22, 2009 the annual adjustment to the asset-size thresholds used to define 'small bank,' 'small savings association,' 'intermediate small bank' and 'intermediate small savings association' under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations. The annual adjustments for banks are required by the 2005 CRA regulatory amendments and for […]