Circular Letters

Circular letters announce news, policy, and guidance from the Board of Governors.

2012

January 31, 2012
Agencies Issue Guidance on Junior Lien Loan Loss Allowances

Four federal financial regulatory agencies on Tuesday issued supervisory guidance on allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL) estimation practices associated with loans and lines of credit secured by junior liens on one- to four-family residential properties.

The agencies issued the guidance to reiterate policy and to remind regulated financial institutions to monitor all credit quality indicators relevant to credit portfolios, including junior liens. Examples of junior liens include second mortgages and home equity lines of credit taken out by mortgage borrowers.

The Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reiterate key concepts included in generally accepted accounting principles and existing ALLL supervisory guidance related to the ALLL and loss estimation practices. Regulators also remind institutions to follow appropriate risk-management principles in managing junior lien loans and lines of credit.

Attachment (201 KB PDF)

January 25, 2012
Federal Reserve Issues FOMC Statement of Longer-Run Goals and Policy Strategy

Following careful deliberations at its recent meetings, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has reached broad agreement on the following principles regarding its longer-run goals and monetary policy strategy. The Committee intends to reaffirm these principles and to make adjustments as appropriate at its annual organizational meeting each January.

The FOMC is firmly committed to fulfilling its statutory mandate from the Congress of promoting maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. The Committee seeks to explain its monetary policy decisions to the public as clearly as possible. Such clarity facilitates well-informed decisionmaking by households and businesses, reduces economic and financial uncertainty, increases the effectiveness of monetary policy, and enhances transparency and accountability, which are essential in a democratic society.

Inflation, employment, and long-term interest rates fluctuate over time in response to economic and financial disturbances. Moreover, monetary policy actions tend to influence economic activity and prices with a lag. Therefore, the Committee's policy decisions reflect its longer-run goals, its medium-term outlook, and its assessments of the balance of risks, including risks to the financial system that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals.

The inflation rate over the longer run is primarily determined by monetary policy, and hence the Committee has the ability to specify a longer-run goal for inflation. The Committee judges that inflation at the rate of 2 percent, as measured by the annual change in the price index for personal consumption expenditures, is most consistent over the longer run with the Federal Reserve's statutory mandate. Communicating this inflation goal clearly to the public helps keep longer-term inflation expectations firmly anchored, thereby fostering price stability and moderate long-term interest rates and enhancing the Committee's ability to promote maximum employment in the face of significant economic disturbances.

The maximum level of employment is largely determined by nonmonetary factors that affect the structure and dynamics of the labor market. These factors may change over time and may not be directly measurable. Consequently, it would not be appropriate to specify a fixed goal for employment; rather, the Committee's policy decisions must be informed by assessments of the maximum level of employment, recognizing that such assessments are necessarily uncertain and subject to revision. The Committee considers a wide range of indicators in making these assessments. Information about Committee participants' estimates of the longer-run normal rates of output growth and unemployment is published four times per year in the FOMC's Summary of Economic Projections. For example, in the most recent projections, FOMC participants' estimates of the longer-run normal rate of unemployment had a central tendency of 5.2 percent to 6.0 percent, roughly unchanged from last January but substantially higher than the corresponding interval several years earlier.

In setting monetary policy, the Committee seeks to mitigate deviations of inflation from its longer-run goal and deviations of employment from the Committee's assessments of its maximum level. These objectives are generally complementary. However, under circumstances in which the Committee judges that the objectives are not complementary, it follows a balanced approach in promoting them, taking into account the magnitude of the deviations and the potentially different time horizons over which employment and inflation are projected to return to levels judged consistent with its mandate.

January 25, 2012
Federal Reserve Board and Federal Open Market Committee Release Economic Projections From the January 24-25 FOMC meeting

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday released the attached table and charts summarizing the economic projections and the target federal funds rate projections made by Federal Reserve Board members and Federal Reserve Bank presidents for the January 24–25 meeting of the Committee.

The table will be incorporated into a summary of economic projections released with the minutes of the January 24–25 meeting. Summaries of economic projections are released on an approximately quarterly schedule.

Attachment (PDF)

For media inquiries, call 202-452-2955.

January 25, 2012
Federal Reserve Issues FOMC Statement

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that the economy has been expanding moderately, notwithstanding some slowing in global growth. While indicators point to some further improvement in overall labor market conditions, the unemployment rate remains elevated. Household spending has continued to advance, but growth in business fixed investment has slowed, and the housing sector remains depressed. Inflation has been subdued in recent months, and longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects economic growth over coming quarters to be modest and consequently anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate. Strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks to the economic outlook. The Committee also anticipates that over coming quarters, inflation will run at levels at or below those consistent with the Committee's dual mandate.

To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with the dual mandate, the Committee expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy. In particular, the Committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run--are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014.

The Committee also decided to continue its program to extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities as announced in September. The Committee is maintaining its existing policies of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings and is prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery in a context of price stability.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Dennis P. Lockhart; Sandra Pianalto; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Daniel K. Tarullo; John C. Williams; and Janet L. Yellen. Voting against the action was Jeffrey M. Lacker, who preferred to omit the description of the time period over which economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate.

January 20, 2012
Federal Reserve Releases Templates for Reporting FOMC Participants' Projections of the Appropriate Target Federal Funds Rate

The Federal Reserve on Friday released blank templates showing the format of the two charts it will use on January 25 to report Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants' projections of the appropriate target federal funds rate. It also released a draft of an explanatory note that will accompany the projections.

The first chart, which will have shaded bars when released on January 25, will show FOMC participants' projections for the timing of the initial increase in the target federal funds rate. The second chart, which will have dots representing policymakers' individual projections when released on January 25, will show participants' views of the appropriate path of the federal funds rate over the next several years and in the longer run.

For media inquiries, call 202-452-2955.

Attachment (89 KB PDF)

January 10, 2012
Federal Reserve Announces Results of Auction of $3 Billion in 28-day Term Deposits Held on January 9, 2012

On January 9, 2012, the Federal Reserve conducted an auction of $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility. Following are the results of the auction:

Bids at the stop-out rate were pro-rated at 5.85 percent. Resulting awards were rounded to the nearest $10,000 except that all awards below $10,000 were rounded up to $10,000.

The awarded deposits will settle on January 12, 2012, and will mature on February 9, 2012. The stop-out rate shown above will apply to all awarded deposits.

January 10, 2012
Reserve Bank Income and Expense Data and Transfers to the Treasury for 2011

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced preliminary unaudited results indicating that the Reserve Banks provided for payments of approximately $76.9 billion of their estimated 2011 net income to the U.S. Treasury. Under the Board's policy, the residual earnings of each Federal Reserve Bank, after providing for the costs of operations, payment of dividends, and the amount necessary to equate surplus with capital paid-in, are distributed to the U.S. Treasury.

The Federal Reserve Banks' 2011 estimated net income of $78.9 billion was derived primarily from $83.6 billion in interest income on securities acquired through open market operations (U.S. Treasury securities, federal agency and government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) mortgage-backed securities, and GSE debt securities). Additional earnings were derived primarily from realized gains on the sale of U.S. Treasury securities of $2.3 billion, foreign currency gains of $152 million, and income from services of $479 million. The Reserve Banks had interest expense of $3.8 billion on depository institutions' reserve balances and term deposits.

Operating expenses of the Reserve Banks, net of amounts reimbursed by the U.S. Treasury and other entities for services the Reserve Banks provided as fiscal agents, totaled $3.4 billion in 2011. In addition, the Reserve Banks were assessed $1.1 billion for the cost of new currency and Board expenditures and $282 million to fund the operations of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and Office of Financial Research. In 2011, statutory dividends totaled $1.6 billion and $375 million of net income was used to equate surplus to capital paid-in.

The preliminary unaudited results include valuation adjustments as of September 30 for Term Asset–Backed Loan Facility (TALF) loans and consolidated limited liability companies, which were created in response to the financial crisis. The final results, which will be presented in the Reserve Banks' annual audited financial statements and the Board of Governors' Annual Report, will reflect valuation adjustments as of December 31.

The attached chart illustrates the amount of Federal Reserve Banks' residual earnings distributed to the U.S. Treasury from 2002 through 2011 (estimated).

Attachment (71 KB PDF)

January 04, 2012
Federal Reserve Offers $3 Billion in 28-Day Term Deposits through Its Term Deposit Facility

On Monday, January 9, 2012, the Federal Reserve will offer $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility. As noted in the Federal Reserve Board's September 8, 2010 release, this offering is part of ongoing small-value operations designed to provide eligible institutions with an opportunity to become familiar with term deposit operations. Additional information regarding the auction is listed below; the auction will be conducted as specified in this announcement, Regulation D, and the terms and conditions of the Term Deposit Facility (http://www.frbservices.org/centralbank/term_deposit_facility.html).

Description of Offering and Competitive Auction Parameters

Competitive bids submitted at the stop-out rate will be pro-rated and will be rounded to multiples of $10,000. Normal rounding convention will be used, except that awards under $10,000 will be rounded to $10,000.

Non-Competitive bids are allowed in this auction. All non-competitive bids will be automatically awarded in full at the stop-out rate of the competitive auction. The minimum amount for a non-competitive bid is $10,000; the maximum amount is $5,000,000 and should be submitted in increments of $10,000. Non-Competitive bids must be submitted between 10:00 a.m. ET and 2:00 p.m. ET on the auction date.

Submission of Bids
Participants must submit bids by accessing the Term Deposit Facility application (https://www.federalreserve.org/arrow/ARROWWeb/home.do) between the opening time and the closing time on the auction date.

Notification
Summary auction results will be published on the Board of Governors' website (http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/tdf.htm) at approximately 12:00 p.m. (noon) ET on the notification date. Soon after, results will be posted on the Term Deposit Facility Resource Center page of the Central Bank Central website (http://www.frbservices.org/centralbank/term_deposit_facility.html). Participant awards will be posted to the Term Deposit Facility application at approximately 12:00 p.m. ET on the notification date, and participants will be able to view their awards by accessing the Term Deposit Facility application.

January 03, 2012
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, November 28 and December 13, 2011

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee on Tuesday released the attached minutes of the Committee meeting held on December 13, 2011 and of the conference call held on November 28, 2011.

The minutes for each regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee ordinarily are made available three weeks after the day of the policy decision and subsequently are published in the Board's Annual Report. The descriptions of economic and financial conditions contained in these minutes are based solely on the information that was available to the Committee at the time of the meeting.

The FOMC minutes can be viewed on the Board's website at http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm

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