Regulations and Guidance

Regulations

Congress has assigned to the Federal Reserve responsibility for implementing certain laws pertaining to a wide range of banking and financial activities. Those laws are implemented in part through regulations. These regulations are organized by alphabetical letter and occasionally are modified to meet the current needs of the financial community. 

The Board of Governors website includes a comprehensive list of Federal Reserve regulations, from A through YY. (See the list of Federal Reserve regulatory guidance.) The public is invited to provide input to proposed modifications via the comment letter process.

Legal Interpretations

Legal Interpretation letters consist of Board staff and Board of Governors opinions on certain regulatory matters.

Supervisory Guidance

Supervisory guidance outlines the agencies' supervisory expectations or priorities and articulates the Federal Reserve's general views regarding appropriate practices for a given subject area. Unlike laws and regulations, supervisory guidance does not have the force and effect of law and the agencies do not issue enforcement actions based solely on supervisory guidance. Supervisory guidance is issued by the Federal Reserve in the form of Supervision and Regulation Letters and Consumer Affairs Letters.

SR letters typically direct the Federal Reserve System's supervision staff and/or institution management to follow certain procedures to ensure compliance with laws, regulations, or supervisory policy. The letters complement Federal Reserve regulations in this respect. Sign-up to receive email alerts on SR Letters.

• By Topic
• By Year

Consumer Affairs letters address significant policy and procedural matters related to consumer compliance supervisory responsibilities. The letters are sent to banking supervision staff at the Board and the Reserve Banks and, in some instances, to supervised banking organizations. Sign up to receive email alerts on CA Letters.

• By Year

To aid in the supervision of our regulated banks and holding companies, supervision manuals are intended to provide guidance to supervisory personnel in planning and conducting examinations and inspections and are used in conjunction with other supervisory guidance. The manuals should not be considered a legal reference to the regulations of the Federal Reserve Board and/or federal banking laws.

Supervision manuals accessible from the Board of Governors website include:

• Bank Holding Company Supervision Manual
• Bank Secrecy Act Manual/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual
• Commercial Bank Examination Manual
• Consumer Compliance Handbook
• Examination Manual for U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banking Organizations
• FFIEC Information Technology (IT) Examination Handbook
• Trading and Capital-Markets Activities Manual
• User's Guide for the Bank Holding Company Performance Report

Federal Register

The Office of the Federal Register of the National Archives and Records Administration and the U.S. Government Printing Office jointly administer this website. The goal of the Federal Register to make it easier for citizens and communities to understand the regulatory process and to participate in government decision-making.