To bring a horizontal perspective that complements and supports the institutional perspectives throughout the Supervision and Regulation Department, a dedicated group of risk specialists studies emerging issues affecting the banking industry. Topics include bank supervisory and regulatory concerns, fair lending issues, potential risks to financial institutions and payment system risk issues.

The Federal Reserve System has established a banking risk framework that consists of six risk factors: credit, market, operational, liquidity, legal and reputational risks. During examinations, institutions' risk management structures are reviewed using these risk categories.