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ECONOMY MATTERS

ANNUAL REPORT

What Is a Stable and Resilient Economy and Financial
System?
February 8, 2018

Photo by David Fine

Most of the Federal Reserve's work is focused on achieving the central bank's dual monetary policy mandate: maximum employment
and stable prices. Ordinarily, we think of the dual mandate simply in terms of the expected levels of employment and inflation.
However, the financial crisis of 2007–08 and its aftermath reminded us of the importance of reducing the risk of severe economic
downturns. Since the financial crisis and its aftermath, the Federal Reserve has worked not only to strengthen economic activity but
also to promote an economic system that is more stable and resilient. In simple terms, a stable system has buffers that allow it to
absorb negative shocks—economic or financial surprises—without worsening those shocks. In other words, a stable system can take
an unexpected hit and contain the damage.
A resilient system can recover quickly from any damage these shocks may cause. Closely related as they are, a subtle distinction
separates the stability and resilience of individual households and financial institutions and the stability and resilience of the broader
economic and financial systems. A resilient financial system continues to function through a crisis, ensuring that lending continues
and capital flows efficiently during times of disruption.
Financial system stability and resilience

While isolated bank failures are unavoidable, it's critical that the larger banking system can continue to support a growing economy.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 helps address this issue by requiring systemically
important banking companies and financial firms to craft plans detailing how they would "wind down" without crashing the entire
system. In addition, since the financial crisis, the Fed and other institutions have focused on making the banking and financial system
more robust and resilient.
The success of the postcrisis efforts of the Federal Reserve, other bank regulatory agencies, and the banks themselves show up in
various measures of bank health. One quick bit of evidence: the percentage of delinquent loans—those 90 or more days past due
and still accruing interest and those not earning income—at commercial banks was below 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017,

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6 percent

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U.S. Banks Cleaning Up Portfolios

Export

Non performing loans as a percentage of total gross loans
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

20
17

20
16

20
15

20
14

20
13

20
12

20
11

20
10

20
09

20
08

20
07

20
06

20
05

20
04

20
03

20
02

20
01

20
00

19
99

19
98

Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data, St. Louis Fed; World Bank

This success allowed then-Fed chair Janet Yellen to say in December 2017: "We have a much more resilient, stronger banking
system, and we're not seeing some worrisome buildup in leverage or credit growth at excessive levels."
Big contribution in the day-to-day work
Many parts of the Atlanta Fed contribute to strengthening the economy of the Sixth Federal Reserve District and the country. The
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's 2017 annual report examines three facets of the bank’s contribution to stability and resilience:
prudential banking supervision and regulation, retail payments, and workforce development.
Prudential supervision aims to promote economic stability by making the banking and financial system more stable. The Atlanta Fed
contributes to banking and financial stability by supervising banking organizations in the Sixth District and working with Fed
colleagues on national supervisory issues.
Additionally, Atlanta Fed economists contribute to policy formation by publishing research on a variety of financial stability issues.
As home of the Fed's Retail Payments Office, the Atlanta Fed helps ensure that payments move easily and securely throughout the
nation. The result is a payments system that is resilient and stable.
The Atlanta Fed's Community and Economic Development team works with constituencies throughout the region to help job seekers
and employers. In doing so, it helps households become more stable and thus lessen their risk of failure.
The following essays, videos, and images explore in more detail the Atlanta Fed's role in fostering financial stability and resilience.
The report is intended to be an overview. Links throughout take you to more technical, detailed material.

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ANNUAL REPORT

President Bostic on Why the Work Matters
February 8, 2018

President Bostic on Why the Work Matters

Transcript
Raphael Bostic: The Fed helps to keep our financial system—and the economy—stable by making sure that our banking institutions
are not taking on too much risk, and by making sure that our monetary policy creates conditions so that businesses and consumers
can make plans for the future and invest in ways that help our economy grow in a sustainable way.
The work that we do at the Fed is important for me personally because the Fed touches everything that we try to do. I spent most of
my career trying to make sure that regular people have access to the American dream, and opportunities to achieve and strive. And
the things that we do at the Federal Reserve help that in very direct ways—whether it be monetary policy, banking supervision, or
even our work with the payments system—we're present in people’s lives in a way that helps them be better.
If there were no Fed, I think you would see hits to both of the missions that we have. In terms of stable price level, I think we would
wind up seeing prices be far more volatile, such that we wouldn't know from day to day what people would pay for their basic goods—
food and clothes and the like—and that instability would be very harmful for long-term investment.
And as for maximizing employment, I think we would see firms far less likely, and far less willing, to invest in a workforce. And they
wouldn't know, five years from now, what prices they would be able to charge, or what their investments would be able to produce in
the future.

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Keeping Banks and the System Stable
March 26, 2018

The Federal Reserve has various responsibilities for financial supervision and regulation. Among the most important: supervising
state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System as well as all bank holding companies. Broadly speaking,
supervising banks means ensuring they control risks and hold adequate capital to cushion against potential losses. The Federal
Reserve must also supervise nonbank financial firms that are deemed systemically important under the Dodd-Frank Act.
In addition to its supervisory responsibilities, the Federal Reserve takes a broad interest in events that affect the financial system, in
part because financial instability could hinder the effectiveness of monetary policy. Another reason is that during a crisis, the Federal
Reserve is likely to be called on to help inject liquidity, essentially ready money, into the financial system, even if the problem
originates outside the banking system. This is known as the central bank’s lender of last resort role.
The Atlanta Fed contributes in three important ways to the Federal Reserve’s prudential regulatory responsibilities.
First, the Atlanta Fed is responsible for examining financial institutions headquartered or operating in the Sixth Federal Reserve
District. These institutions include banks, bank holding companies, offices of foreign banking organizations, and certain firms that
deliver technology services to financial institutions. (The Sixth District encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and parts of
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.)
Second, the Atlanta Fed works with the 11 other regional Federal Reserve Banks to contribute resources that support critical national
supervisory programs such as CCAR and other horizontal capital and liquidity reviews.
Third, the Atlanta Fed contributes to the national discussion on prudential regulatory issues both by deepening our understanding of
what has happened and by evaluating ideas for improving future regulations.
Two parts of the Atlanta Fed contribute to prudential supervision and regulation: the Supervision, Regulation, and Credit Division and
the Research Department. The Research Department helps with national supervisory issues where it can complement the skills
available in the System’s financial supervision and regulation departments. Additionally, the Research Department contributes to the

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national policy conversation through analysis and scholarly research, aiming to improve the supervision and regulation of the financial
system.

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Why Supervision and Regulation Matter
March 26, 2018

Why Supervision and Regulation Matter

Transcript
Madeline Marsden: I get to be part of an organization that's very unique. We're the only Fed. There are 12 Reserve Banks, and I
work for one of them—which is pretty cool.
S&R [supervision and regulation] on the local level, in the Sixth District, examines all the institutions the Fed's responsible for—that's
a really important part of our microsupervision. We have to have individual banks and financial institutions feeding up into the system.
If they're healthy, it’s another leg up for the system.
If there were no S&R [Supervision, Regulation, and Credit] Division, the really bottom line, consumer-level part of the financial system
would really not be protected. It's very important that we ensure the safety and soundness of our individual banks, because that is
where we relate to the majority of society—at the local level, at the individual business transaction level—and that's very important,
and it's important not just for the financial condition of the organization but also for the services they offer the community. That's
critical. That keeps the economy going.

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Policy Is Only as Good as Its Execution
March 26, 2018

Photo by David Fine

The Atlanta Fed's banking supervisors and regulatory staff put regulatory policy to work every day to enhance the stability of the
financial system and its institutions. The Reserve Bank's Supervision, Regulation, and Credit (SRC) Division helps ensure the safety
and soundness of financial institutions, compliance with consumer protection laws, and financial stability by executing the Board of
Governors' supervisory policies and programs in the Sixth Federal Reserve District.
The division helps safeguard the banking industry by conducting examinations and inspections, monitoring emerging risk, and helping
implement the Fed Board of Governors' regulatory requirements for the largest institutions.
SRC's Credit Risk Management Department supports the Fed's role as lender of last resort—the Fed makes loans to financial
institutions experiencing financial difficulty when no other institution can. The department also assesses and monitors risk from these
borrowers and determines appropriate procedures to limit risk.
Examiners use authority delegated from the Board of Governors to conduct individual supervision of all firms that SRC oversees.
The division's chief, Executive Vice President Mike Johnson, emphasizes the importance of delivering quality supervision. The Atlanta
Fed aims to clearly communicate supervisors' expectations and bring about positive outcomes for the banks, their customers, and the
public and financial system. The goal is for institutions to remain stable and continue to lend amid downturns, which benefits
customers, the financial system, and the economy, Johnson explained.

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Dedicated Teams Focus on Three Large Southeast Banks
March 26, 2018

Photo by David Fine

In addition to examining community, regional, and large banks and inspecting bank holding companies, the Atlanta Fed and the other
Reserve Banks appoint a central point of contact, basically a team leader, and a dedicated team for each systemically important bank
in their districts. The Dodd-Frank Act defines systemically important financial institutions as banking organizations with assets of $50
billion or more. The Atlanta Fed maintains teams for three large banking firms based in the Southeast: SunTrust Banks Inc., Regions
Financial Corporation, and BBVA Compass Bancshares Inc.
Atlanta Fed supervisors also participate in coordinated system exercises, or horizontal reviews, that produce an overview of industry
risk as well as insight into each firm’s strengths and weaknesses. This type of exercise originated from early stress testing of the
largest firms’ capital strength and evolved into the now annual comprehensive capital analysis and review, or CCAR.
CCAR encompasses supervisory stress tests as well as a qualitative review of firms' capital planning processes. That is, part of the
CCAR tests the quality of banks' capital planning procedures. The program has successfully reduced systemic risk and improved
resilience. Since the Fed carried out its first round of stress tests in 2009, the combined common equity of CCAR institutions across
the nation increased by more than $750 billion, to $1.25 trillion, in 2017. Common equity is a key measure of an institution’s ability to
handle potential losses.

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Average Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio (%) for all Bank
Holding Companies with Assets of $50 Billion or More

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16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Source: Consolidated nancial statements for holding companies, collected by the Federal
Reserve Board of Governors

The results of the Federal Reserve System's 2017 stress test projections suggest that, all told, the 34 participating bank holding
companies would suffer substantial losses under both the adverse (moderate U.S. recession) and severely adverse (severe U.S.
recession with unemployment rising to 10 percent) scenarios. But they could continue lending to businesses and households, thanks
to the capital the sector built up following the financial crisis, according to the Board of Governors.
Focusing regulation where it's needed most
In the past year, the Fed refined CCAR to more closely align with the systemic risk that each institution poses. Smaller institutions,
which present less systemic risk, now face a reduced burden because part of the review has been folded into regular examinations.
The new method allows the Fed to use its resources more efficiently while still offering a system-wide perspective on potential and
emerging risks, Johnson pointed out.
For example, after the reviews, Atlanta Fed team leaders meet with counterparts from across the Fed System to consider results.
Supervisory staff discuss each institution's capital strength in light of national findings, gaining a holistic view of the institutions' capital
adequacy and capital planning processes.
The Fed has also broadened its method for assessing systemic risk. It began with capital stress testing. But Atlanta Fed banking
supervisors and Fed System colleagues now also review other critical areas that signal a bank’s soundness, including liquidity and
resolution plans.
On the local level, the Atlanta Fed's Supervision, Regulation, and Credit (SRC) Division established a high-level council that directs
an internal process to identify, prioritize, monitor, and analyze risks, and to direct actions to control and limit those risks. One of the
key conduits to the high-level division risk council is a risk and resilience group. It includes specialized teams focused on capital
assessment, credit risk, information technology risk, market and liquidity risk, and operational risk. Embedded in these teams are
experts in real estate, accounting, financial analysis, data analytics, and technology.
When the risk council believes a risk merits attention, it shares this information with the SRC staff. The staff then incorporates it in
bank examination planning, allowing frontline examiners to know what to look out for.
At the Fed System level, the Board of Governors issues guidance in response to changes in risk. For example, in December 2016, in
light of developments in the oil and gas industry, the Board sent a letter to banks—formally called guidance—updating them on what
regulatory agencies expected them to do concerning risk management of energy lending.

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Aiming to Meet Regulatory Capital Requirements
March 26, 2018

Each year, the law requires the Fed to stress test every bank holding company with over $50 billion in assets. The test requires these
firms to project losses, revenues, expenses, and capital levels nine quarters into the future under three economic and financial
scenarios. If the holding company shows it can meet all regulatory capital requirements over the nine quarters, it passes the stress
test.

About the 2017 Stress Tests
Thirty-four big banking companies underwent stress testing.
Combined, they hold over 75 percent of total assets of U.S. financial companies.
Each scenario included 28 domestic and international economic variables such as gross domestic
product, unemployment rate, and interest rates.
Results suggest that firms would suffer substantial losses under the adverse scenario, or a moderate
U.S. recession, and the severely adverse scenario, or a deep recession with U.S. unemployment
reaching 10 percent.
Even under these conditions, the institutions would be able to continue lending.
Source: Federal Reserve Board of Governors

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Why Research Matters
March 26, 2018

Why Research Matters

Transcript
Paula Tkac: Having economists around in a research department helps a policymaker—our Bank president, in this case—make
those decisions with the most information possible. It means that there are a group of us in every Bank, to have robust conversations
about the consequences of potential actions. And we disagree, and that conversation, hearing the disagreements, I think, is what
ultimately helps a policymaker sort out the risks of any particular decision.
It’s fun for me to do research. It’s fun for me to be an economist, to learn new things and to do the work that I do for the Federal
Reserve System to help us understand the economy. But it’s also incredibly gratifying to know that that work may, in some small way,
help a better decision get made, and will contribute, hopefully, to the stability and resilience of the U.S. economy.

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Giving the Bank President What He Needs to Do His Job
March 26, 2018

The main mission of the Atlanta Fed’s Research Department is to ensure that the Bank president has a fully informed, nuanced view
of the economy to present at meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's monetary policy-setting body.
Understanding the condition of the financial system is important for at least two reasons. First, monetary policy works its way into the
real economy through the financial system. Second, financial instability can force the Fed to adopt more accommodative policies—
typically lower interest rates—than it would if the financial system were more stable. For example, the country has had very low rates
since the 2007–08 financial crisis.
Moreover, the financial crisis created an "all-hands-on-deck" situation at the Fed. Conditions were sufficiently dire that researchers
who could help craft policy to stabilize the financial system stepped up to pitch in.
Atlanta Fed economists were no exception. One of their main contributions was in refining the Federal Reserve's comprehensive
capital analysis and review (CCAR) process, a key initiative meant to ensure that moving ahead, banks would be strong enough to
withstand economic downturns. Atlanta Fed economists helped review the rigor of the models that commercial banks used to show
how they would fare in a variety of what-if scenarios devised as part of the CCAR.
This experience in the trenches led Atlanta Fed economists Mark Jensen and Larry Wall to evaluate and suggest improvements to
the Fed's bank stress tests and the Basel international standards for measuring bank capital adequacy. Additionally, Atlanta Fed
economists helped to review incentive compensation programs for large-banking-company executives and the statistical modeling of
banks' holdings of sovereign and municipal debt.

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Devising Sensible Policy Means Exploring What Has Already
Happened
March 29, 2018

The 2007–08 financial crisis originated mainly in housing finance markets. Atlanta Fed economists Scott Frame and Kris Gerardi are
among the researchers who have made important contributions to understanding what happened in housing finance.
To be sure, there is no one cause of the housing finance-related problems. But work by Gerardi and coauthors highlighted the critical
role of overly optimistic house price expectations by both mortgage borrowers and lenders in the mid-2000s. In an influential 2012
paper written with Boston Fed economists Chris Foote and Paul Willen, Gerardi argued that many decisions that later proved
mistaken seemed reasonable when they were made given prevailing views that a nationwide decline in house prices was almost
impossible.
Frame made his mark as well. For years he has conducted pioneering research on the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs),
the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). The two
firms were placed in federal receivership in 2008 after they became insolvent.
Frame had raised concerns much earlier. He was among the first researchers to explore the risks posed by the implicit federal
guarantees of the GSEs’ liabilities and the massive growth in their portfolios of mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities.
Research expands frontier of understanding
Further, economist Larry Wall wrote a 2015 paper proposing an updated regulatory framework focused on reviews of major markets
and not just firms. His key finding: threats to financial stability arise more often from widespread misjudgments about risks in major
markets than from one-off mistakes by individual firms.
Atlanta Fed economists offer fundamental lessons about too-big-to-fail
Wall and other Atlanta Fed researchers are also exploring one of the most vexing puzzles in financial stability: the so-called too-big-

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basically
means some
banks are so important
that allowing
them to failMILESTONES
could

damage the economy and the financial system.
The problem usually arises from services these banks sell to large institutional customers. These services are critical to the
economy's functioning, and so complex that it's too risky to clean up the banks' failure the same way smaller failing banks are cleaned
up. But the typical alternative to letting these very large banks fail is a publicly funded bailout.
The Dodd-Frank Act addresses too-big-to-fail. One measure, for example, requires the largest banks to submit "living wills," plans for
their orderly and rapid resolution should they fail. Dodd-Frank also gives the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC) the authority to take various actions if the agencies find a bank’s plan is not credible.
Still, it's far from clear that the too-big-to-fail problem is solved. It's complicated. But a fundamental lesson from history, Wall notes, is
that ending too-big-to-fail will require minimizing the number of large banks that are in danger of failing at the same time.
Atlanta Fed economists continue to research additional topics that affect stability. These include the rise of nonbank financial
technology companies, or fintechs, and artificial intelligence.

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Technology in Banking and Bank Regulation
March 29, 2018

Technological advances are changing the landscape for financial firms and regulatory agencies. Researchers including Atlanta Fed
economist Larry Wall are exploring how artificial intelligence and machine learning may help financial supervisors make sense of
ever-larger pools of data with the goal of enhancing financial stability.
The availability of deeper information—say, data on specific loans or financial instruments—combined with new tools to analyze these
data could help supervisors better evaluate the risk of banks and financial systems, Wall pointed out in an article in the Atlanta Fed’s
Notes from the Vault.
Techniques such as "deep learning" use neural networks loosely patterned after the operation of neurons in the human brain. These
techniques allow computers to solve relatively complex problems such as facial recognition.
There is potential here. Deep learning, Wall said, combined with deeper data could help supervisors better understand not just the
operations of individual financial institutions, but also the endless web of links among financial institutions and markets.
But machine learning has limits. First, because it relies on historical data, machine learning is not currently well-suited for predicting
things that have never occurred. In addition, while it can help supervisors identify correlations—X happened along with Y—even the
cleverest machines can't prove that one action or circumstance caused another. Establishing "causality" is critical to understanding
why things happen and how they might be prevented.

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Economists' Research Available through Various Venues
March 26, 2018

Scholarly papers are not the Atlanta Fed’s only contribution to financial stability research. The Bank also offers its work in venues
such as macroblog, which offers regular commentary and analysis on economic topics. The Atlanta Fed's Center for Financial
Innovation and Stability publishes essays on financial stability every month in Notes from the Vault. In addition, the center holds a
couple of conferences each year, including the Bank’s flagship research event, the Financial Markets Conference.
Those conferences assemble leading thinkers from industry, government, and academia, including Nobel Prize winners, former
cabinet secretaries, Fed chairs, and heads of other central banks. These events generate spirited discussion about important
financial and regulatory policy questions.
The 2017 conference focused on striking a balance. The aim is regulation that enhances stability without burdening financial
institutions to the extent they become potentially less stable. These discussions continue to inform policymakers as the Fed Board of
Governors and Congress weigh changes to financial regulation.
"Policymakers are unlikely ever to be able completely to end the risk of financial instability, but better policies can almost surely
reduce the risk and social costs of such instability," Wall wrote in an examination of whether financial stability should be an explicit
goal of monetary policy. "Hence, at this point the safest approach is to continue developing macroprudential tools while retaining the
option of using monetary policy to reduce the risk of financial instability."

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Why a Healthy Payments System Matters
March 26, 2018

Why a Healthy Payments System Matters

Transcript
Cheryl Venable: The Retail Payments Office's top priority is to operate a stable and reliable check and ACH payment system. We
connect thousands of financial institutions, and the U.S. Treasury, to move millions of payments every day that support what we call
"everyday life payments"—things like payroll payments and Social Security payments...[and] mortgage and insurance payments.
I am personally drawn to the Retail Payments Office because of the fact that we touch millions of individuals across the United States.
I know that what we do supports nearly 97 percent of households, and that through our support of the Treasury in particular, we
ensure that everyone who needs their benefit payments gets to them in an efficient and timely way. And I feel like I help make the
economy run.

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Making Sure Payments Flow
March 26, 2018

Just as a network of rivers carries water throughout a nation, the payments system keeps money streaming between buyers and
sellers of goods and services. Every day, hundreds of millions of retail payments occur, including car payments that are automatically
debited from consumer accounts, online bill payments, and credit and debit card transactions for a host of purchases. And there’s
always cash.
As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve keeps the payments system functioning by making sure currency is available,
electronically transferring money, and processing checks. The Fed is also a thought leader working with the industry at large to
promote improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of the payments system.

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Making Sure You Get Paid
March 26, 2018

When you receive money through direct deposit, send a mortgage payment online, or deposit a paper check, you are most likely
benefiting from the work of the Federal Reserve's Retail Payments Office. The office handles millions of these basic but vital
transactions every day. The Atlanta Fed manages the Retail Payments Office for the Federal Reserve System, helping to ensure that
money flows through the economy safely and efficiently.
Much of the office's work takes place away from public view. But it is critical. The office processes transactions made through the
Fed's automated clearing house (ACH) service, an electronic network that facilitates credit and debit payments between banks. The
office also clears checks.
Watch this video: The Fed Explains the Payments System.

The Fed Explains the Payments System

"If we don't do our job right, your money doesn't show up in your bank account on payday, for example, and that's not a good thing,"
said Jeff Devine, a senior vice president in the Retail Payments Office.

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In 2017, the Retail Payments Office handled 15.5 billion transactions—with a value of more than $28.8 trillion—through the Fed's own
clearing house network, FedACH. Last year, this service processed about 72 percent of the nation's total ACH transactions.
The Retail Payments Office also cleared about 5.2 billion checks in 2017, 40 percent of the nation's total checks. While that is a
sizable amount, the number of checks has steadily declined in recent years as consumers and businesses take advantage of more
efficient electronic payment alternatives such as ACH transactions.
The Fed, through its 12 Reserve Banks, is the leading provider of payment services to banks. It competes with private-sector parties
for ACH and check services, and charges fees that are published on the FRBservices.org website.
The transparent pricing helps set a ceiling for other providers of payment clearing services in the marketplace. "It makes the cost of
the transaction between banks clear and acts as a governor on interbank clearing costs," said Devine. "That's one of the roles the
Fed plays that helps support the efficiency and stability of the payments system."

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ECONOMY MATTERS

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Reliability and Safety Are Important
March 29, 2018

Reliability of the payments system is important for the public and the nation's financial system. Because executing payments involves
interrelated systems of a host of entities that clear, settle, or record various transactions, there can be structural risks to the country’s
financial system should any element suffer a delay or failure. A failure at one entity could spread, ultimately leading to disruption in
financial markets more broadly.
"The safety and efficiency of these systems may affect the safety and soundness of U.S. financial institutions and, in many cases, are
vital to the financial stability of the United States," according to the Federal Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk.
Mitigating payments system risks is crucial, and the policy outlines broad public policy goals around efficiency and safety.
"Overall, the payments system must be innovative, while also addressing risks, supporting financial stability, and maintaining public
confidence," said current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a March 2017 speech.

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Check 21 Shakes Things Up
March 29, 2018

In recent decades, technological advances have changed the back-office clearing and settlement of retail payments. Those advances
have saved costs, improved funds availability, and paved the way for new payment forms.
For example, a new era in check processing came after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. The nation's aviation system was
suspended for several days, preventing paper checks worth billions of dollars from moving across the country for settlement. Retail
Payments Office officials had to pull together a temporary network of trucks to transport as many checks as possible. The air-travel
halt exposed weaknesses and inefficiencies in the nation’s check-clearing system, which could have affected the nation’s financial
and economic stability and resilience.
The Fed's Board of Governors worked with the banking industry, consumer groups, and other check-clearing networks to draft federal
legislation called the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which took effect in 2004. The law, also known as Check 21, allowed
financial institutions to convert paper checks into an electronic image that could later be printed as a substitute check to serve as a
legally negotiable version of the original paper check. By eliminating the need to transport a check from a bank where it was
deposited to one that paid it, the law ushered in the age of electronic check processing and remote deposits. It also reduced the
number of days required for check clearing and settlement. Check 21 provided a tremendous boost to the electronic collection of
retail payments.
As payment with cards, direct deposit, and other electronic instruments has accelerated, the number of checks written has declined.
For example, the number of payment card transactions came to 111.1 billion in 2016, up 7 percent from 103.5 billion a year earlier,
according to a 2017 Federal Reserve Payments Study update. During the same time, the number of commercial checks paid by the
largest U.S. depository entities fell 3.6 percent.

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In 2015, checks accounted for 13.4 percent of noncash payments, down from 57.8 percent in 2000. General-purpose credit and debit
cards now make up a greater share of retail payments, accounting for more than 65.5 percent of noncash transactions in 2015.
"There are more things to buy, and how we buy them has evolved and changed," Atlanta Fed senior vice president Jeff Devine said.

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Technology Marches Forward
March 29, 2018

Changes are under way at the Retail Payments Office as it works with a broad spectrum of participants to enhance the speed, safety,
and efficiency of the payments system.
For example, the Retail Payments Office has worked with the industry to enable same-day payments and settlements through the
ACH network. Implemented in three phases, with completion in March 2018, Same-Day ACH is speeding up the processing and
settlement of a number of bank-based transactions, including debit and direct deposit payments. The Retail Payments Office began
working with the industry in the early 2000s to speed settlement of ACH transactions by testing the capabilities in 2003, introducing
an opt-in service in 2010, and ultimately influencing and supporting the industry's full adoption of Same-Day ACH in 2017. It
represents the most significant change to the ACH network in more than 40 years.
Additionally, the Retail Payments Office is in the midst of a multi-year effort to modernize the Fed's ACH processing platform. This
upgrade will help the Fed better manage costs and improve its ability to adapt to changing customer demands for FedACH service
offerings.
The Atlanta Fed is also focusing on the implications of technological innovations for businesses and consumers. The Atlanta Fed
launched the Retail Payments Risk Forum to bring together experts to consider how changes in electronic security, law enforcement,
banking, and other issues could affect the payments landscape.
Finally, the Retail Payments Office has worked closely with others across the Federal Reserve System and the industry to explore the
opportunity for implementing faster payments in the United States, a trend that has already gained popularity worldwide. In 2015, the
Fed convened a task force of more than 300 people from various corners of the payment sector to discuss systems that can allow
real-time electronic fund transfers between bank accounts. The Faster Payments Task Force published its final report in July 2017,
outlining several recommendations to achieve its objective of making faster payments available to U.S. consumers and businesses by
2020.

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A Critical Mission
March 29, 2018

Making sure the economy always has the currency it needs is a critical mission of the Federal Reserve. Though more and more
payments occur electronically, cash will always be an essential element in payments and indispensably important to the financial
system. During times of crisis, cash may be the only means for companies and individuals to transact business.
Never was this clearer than last year in Puerto Rico. When Hurricane Maria tore through the island in September 2017, it knocked out
electricity, crippled communications, and disabled the U.S. territory’s airports. Automated systems of payment were disrupted, and
debit and credit cards couldn't be used.
"Within a matter of hours, Puerto Rico became a 100 percent cash economy," said Amy Goodman, vice president and chief of the
Atlanta Fed’s Cash Function Office, based in New Orleans.
The Atlanta Fed's Cash function stepped in to help meet the need. The Miami Branch shipped more than $670 million in currency to
the island in the two weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall. (See the Economy Matters story "Atlanta Fed Cash Staff Steps Up to
Support Puerto Rico.")
Ahead of a major storm, there is typically a high demand for cash as people rush to buy food and emergency supplies. The Fed
supplies extra currency to banks and keeps replenishing those supplies during those times, Goodman said.
And when a big storm disrupts the payments system's infrastructure, as happened in Puerto Rico, the Cash office also makes sure
the economy has the currency it needs until the normal infrastructure is restored. When a potentially devastating storm is expected,
the Fed’s Cash employees are provided shelter in or near their Bank so they can report to work as soon as first responders are
allowed into a storm-affected area.
"Part of our mission under the Federal Reserve Act is to make sure that cash is always readily available in normal times and in times
of stress," Goodman said. "We would never want to be in a position of having one of our banks or our financial community in need of
money and we're not positioned to give it to them."
For more information about the Atlanta Fed's cash function, go to Currency and Coin Services.

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Workforce Development: Why It Matters
March 29, 2018

Workforce Development: Why It Matters - Stuart Andreason

Transcript
Stuart Andreason: A big part of our job is here at the Bank, but another important part of the role that we play—in the community
development department, in the Research Department, and in the institution more broadly—is to get out and experience and hear
from people that are dealing with challenges related to community development, workforce development, and economic development
broadly in the communities that we serve.
And for me, I really cherish the times that we get to go out and talk with—what I broadly talk about is stakeholders, but these are
people that are looking to make positive changes in their communities. We hear about challenges that they face; we hear about
questions that they have about the work that they're doing. The questions that they bring, the goals that they have for their
communities, are the things that I like to embed in the work that I do.

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Keeping Households Financially Healthy
March 29, 2018

For households, stability means predictably earning, saving, and meeting financial obligations. Financially stable, resilient households
contribute to a sound economy and financial system. After all, consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of America's gross
domestic product. Moreover, the well-being of households is central to societal well-being and is clearly tied to the Fed's dual
mandate of maximum employment and low, stable inflation.
Therefore, as households and communities contend with limited resources and persistent challenges, the Atlanta Fed Community
and Economic Development team focuses on the structural barriers to economic opportunity, employment, and financial stability.
Workforce development is an integral part of those efforts. To address stubborn gaps in economic opportunity, the Atlanta Fed in
October unveiled the Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity.

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Why Workforce Development Is Essential
March 29, 2018

By broad measures such as the unemployment rate and payroll job growth, American labor markets are robust. Yet deeper currents
threaten the financial stability of millions of U.S. households.
In general, those challenges are most acutely felt by those born in low-income communities, minorities, and people with less
education. So that is where workforce development efforts by the Atlanta Fed and the Federal Reserve System are focused.
Even in our broadly healthy labor market, there is evidence of persistent disparities. For example, the threat of automation eliminating
jobs is far more ominous for those with less education. Two-thirds of jobs that require less than a high school diploma and half of jobs
requiring a high school diploma can be automated, according to a study Susan Lund of the McKinsey Global Institute presented at an
August conference hosted by the Atlanta Fed’s Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity. By comparison, only one-fifth of jobs
requiring a bachelor's degree or higher are "automatable."
That reality has clear consequences for the U.S. workforce: 41 percent have a high school diploma or less, and only 46 percent of
students in the United States who start college earn a degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Other labor market disparities are linked to race. For decades, the unemployment rate of African Americans has been nearly double
the national unemployment rate, with little indication that the relative difference is narrowing or that it can be fully explained by
differences in education or sectoral mix of jobs, according to research by Federal Reserve economists.
"The persistently higher unemployment rates in lower-income and minority communities show why workforce development is so
essential," former Fed chair Janet Yellen said in a March 2017 speech.
She pointed out that unemployment rates averaged 13 percent in low- and moderate-income communities from 2011 through 2015,
compared with 7.3 percent in higher-income communities.

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Even booming Southeast metropolitan areas offer dramatically uneven economic opportunity. Some of the region's most vibrant
economic hubs, such as the metro areas of Atlanta and Nashville, are also among the most difficult places in the country for people
born in poverty to move up the socioeconomic scale, according to research by economist Raj Chetty and others.

Labor market trends are likely exacerbating the disparities in economic mobility. As Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic noted in an
October speech, evidence from the latest Federal Reserve Board of Governors' Survey of Household Economics and Decision
making suggests that increasingly unpredictable and intermittent incomes can lead to financial stresses. In the survey, 40 percent of
American households headed by someone with a high school diploma or less education reported they are struggling financially.
The Atlanta Fed's Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity and the workforce development community broadly are focused
on improving the job readiness and opportunities—and therefore the financial stability and resilience—of people who have been left
behind in a generally strong labor market, explained Stuart Andreason, the center's director.

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Household Debt Remains Historically High
March 29, 2018

For better or worse, debt is a key factor in household financial stability. Some consumption is financed by borrowing, which is not
necessarily a bad thing. However, at the same time, rising consumer debt levels can raise concerns about household financial
stability and in turn financial system stability, research shows.
In fact, the ratio of household debt to disposable personal income in the United States peaked at the end of 2007, immediately before
the Great Recession. That ratio has since fallen. Yet in mid-2017 it remained historically high, at 102 percent, according to the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's Center for Household Financial Stability.
That ratio never exceeded 100 percent before 2002. Higher debt levels have made American households and the nation's economy
more financially vulnerable, according to research presented at a 2017 symposium sponsored by the St. Louis Fed's center. Likewise,
the International Monetary Fund's 2017 Global Financial Stability Report notes that experience from the financial crisis and recent
research suggest increases in household debt levels may play a role in amplifying shocks to the economy or to the financial system.

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Tackling Unequal Labor Market Outcomes
March 29, 2018

Employers invest billions annually in workforce development. But that investment is focused on highly skilled workers: 58 percent of
employers’ formal training dollars go toward those with at least a bachelor’s degree, and another 25 percent to workers with some
college, according to a 2015 study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
As large employers focus workforce development on hard-to-replace high earners, it is largely left to others to tackle the factors
producing disparate labor market outcomes. Those others comprise an unwieldy collection of state and local workforce development
boards and agencies, for-profit training centers and colleges, and public technical and community colleges.
One goal of the Atlanta Fed is to help bring all these organizations in the Sixth Federal District together. For instance, Center for
Workforce and Economic Opportunity staff helped to create the Metro Atlanta eXchange (MAX) for Workforce Solutions, the Atlanta
region's only comprehensive directory for workforce development services.
The center also helps policymakers and workforce developers allocate limited resources by tapping the Fed's wealth of labor market
research, data, and tools, center director Stuart Andreason said.
For example, the center's Opportunity Occupations Monitor tracks by state and metro area the prevalence of jobs that pay above the
geographic area's median wage but don’t require a college degree. The Atlanta Fed's Labor Market Initiative, which includes both the
Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity and the Center for Human Capital Studies, maintains a trove of data and tools for
workforce developers and policymakers.
The Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity makes this material as well as information from throughout the Fed System
readily accessible and, ideally, useful to workforce developers through blogs, multimedia presentations, face-to-face discussions, and
other means.
In addition, the Atlanta Fed joined the other 11 regional Reserve Banks and the Fed Board of Governors in staging the central bank's
highest-profile conference on workforce development. The three-day October event in Austin, Texas, featured speeches by four Fed
presidents.

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Another priority of the Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity is to strengthen connections between the workforce
development and community development sectors. The Atlanta Fed and the Fed System maintain longstanding relationships with
practitioners and researchers in areas such as housing, public health, small business development, and community development
finance. Encouraging cooperation between the workforce development and community development camps is vital to dismantle
"nonskill barriers" that impede individuals' ability to work, such as lack of transportation and child care, addiction problems, and broad
discrimination, Andreason points out.
In all its work, the center strives to support a key Fed System goal: to make a compelling case that workforce development merits
serious attention from policymakers. Despite a growing economy and numerous workforce development programs, it is important to
remember that challenges remain for workers and employers.
"Reframing and reimagining workforce development efforts as investments—not just social services—can lead to larger-scale
solutions and more accountable outcomes," according to Investing in America's Workforce: Report on Workforce Development Needs
and Opportunities, a 2017 Fed System report. "Investing in workforce development can yield exponential returns because a stronger
workforce supports a stronger economy."

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Directors & O cers
JUMP TO: Sixth District Directors • Management Committee & Officers • Advisory Councils

SIXTH DISTRICT DIRECTORS
Federal Reserve Banks each have a board of nine directors. Directors provide economic information, have broad oversight
responsibility for their bank's operations, and, with the Board of Governors' approval, appoint the bank's president and first vice
president. Six directors—three class A, representing the banking industry, and three class B—are elected by banks that are members
of the Federal Reserve System. Three class C directors (including the chair and deputy chair) are appointed by the Board of
Governors. Class B and C directors represent agriculture, commerce, industry, labor, and consumers in the district; they cannot be
officers, directors, or employees of a bank; class C directors cannot be bank stockholders. Fed branch office boards have five or
seven directors; the majority are appointed by head-office directors and the rest by the Board of Governors.

Atlanta
Thomas A. Fanning (Chair)

Michael J. Jackson (Deputy Chair)

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President

Southern Company

AutoNation Inc.

Atlanta, Georgia

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Myron A. Gray

Mary A. Laschinger

President, U.S. Operations

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

United Parcel Service

Veritiv Corporation

Atlanta, Georgia

O. B. Grayson Hall Jr.

Jonathan T.M. Reckford

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer

Regions Financial Corporation

Habitat for Humanity International

Birmingham, Alabama

Atlanta, Georgia

Gerard R. Host

Elizabeth A. Smith

President and Chief Executive Officer

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Trustmark Corporation

Bloomin' Brands Inc.

Jackson, Mississippi

Tampa Florida

Birmingham
Pamela B. Hudson, MD (Chair)

Robert W. Dumas

Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Crestwood Medical Center

AuburnBank

Huntsville, Alabama

Auburn, Alabama

David M. Benck

Nancy C. Goedecke

Vice President and General Counsel

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Hibbett Sports

Mayer Electric Supply Company Inc.

Birmingham, Alabama

Brandon W. Bishop

Herschell L. Hamilton

International Representative, Southern Region

Chief Strategic Officer

International Union of Operating Engineers

BLOC Global Group

Birmingham, Alabama

Michael Case
Former President and Chief Executive Officer
The Westervelt Company
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Jacksonville
David L. Brown (Chair)

Dana S. Kilborne

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President

Co-President and Chief Commercial Officer

Web.com

Sunshine Bank

Jacksonville, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Dawn Lockhart
Cynthia A. Bioteau, PhD

Director of Strategic Partnerships

Chief Executive Officer and College President

Office of the Mayor

Florida State College at Jacksonville

City of Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

City Hall at Saint James
Jacksonville, Florida

Paul G. Boynton
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc.
Jacksonville, Florida

Harold Mills
Owner
Wired Technologies Group
Windermere, Florida

John Hirabayashi
President and Chief Executive Officer
Community First Credit Union of Florida
Jacksonville, Florida

Miami
Michael A. Wynn (Chair)

Ana M. Menendez

Board Chairman and President

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Sunshine Ace Hardware

Watsco Inc.

Bonita Springs, Florida

Coconut Grove, Florida

Eduardo Arriola

Victoria E. Villalba

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Apollo Bank

Victoria & Associates Career Services Inc.

Miami, Florida

Keith T. Koenig

Millar Wilson

President

Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

City Furniture

Mercantil Bank, N.A.

Tamarac, Florida

Coral Gables, Florida

Carol C. Lang
President
HealthLink Enterprises Inc.
Miami Beach, Florida

Nashville
Scott McWilliams (Chair)

Richard D. Holder

Executive Vice President of Strategic

President and Chief Executive Officer

Development

NN Inc.

GEODIS

Johnson City, Tennessee

Brentwood, Tennessee
Kent M. Adams

W. Michael Madden

Former President and Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation

Kirkland's Inc.

Former Vice President, Caterpillar Inc.

Brentwood, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee
Matthew S. Bourlakas
President and Chief Executive Officer
Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee Inc.
Nashville, Tennessee

Claire W. Tucker
President and Chief Executive Officer
CapStar Financial Holdings Inc.
Nashville, Tennessee

Beth R. Chase
Chief Executive Officer
c3/Consulting
Nashville, Tennessee

New Orleans
Art E. Favre (Chair)

Phillip R. May

President and Chief Executive Officer

Performance Contractors Inc.

Entergy Louisiana LLC and

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Entergy Gulf States Louisiana L.L.C.
Jefferson, Louisiana

Elizabeth A. Ardoin

Suzanne T. Mestayer

Senior Executive Vice President

Managing Principal

Director of Communications

ThirtyNorth Investments LLC

IBERIABANK

New Orleans, Louisiana

Lafayette, Louisiana
Lampkin Butts

Fred T. Stimpson III

President and Chief Operating Officer

President, U. S. South Operations

Sanderson Farms Inc.

Canfor Scotch Gulf

Laurel, Mississippi

Mobile, Alabama

G. Janelle Frost
President and Chief Executive Officer
AMERISAFE Inc.
DeRidder, Louisiana

JUMP TO: Sixth District Directors • Management Committee & Officers • Advisory Councils

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE & OFFICERS

Management Committee
Raphael W. Bostic

André T. Anderson

President and Chief Executive Officer

Senior Vice President and Corporate
Engagement Officer

Marie C. Gooding

W. Brian Bowling

First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer,
and Chief Financial Officer

David E. Altig

Leah L. Davenport

Executive Vice President and Director of

Senior Vice President, Operations and

Research

Administrative Services

Michael E. Johnson

Mary M. Kepler

Executive Vice President, Supervision and

Senior Vice President, Chief Risk and

Regulation

Compliance Officer

Cheryl L. Venable
Executive Vice President and Retail Payments
Office Product Manager

Management Committee Advisers
Richard A. Jones

Chapelle D. Davis

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, and
OMWI Director

Joan H. Buchanan
Vice President and General Auditor

Senior Vice Presidents
Scott H. Dake

Keith Melton

Senior Vice President

William J. Devine

Paula A. Tkac

Senior Vice President

Senior Vice President and Associate Director of Research

Brian D. Egan
Senior Vice President

Vice Presidents
Christopher N. Alexander

Evette H. Jones

Vice President

Daniel M. Baum

Lee C. Jones

Vice President

Vice President and Regional Executive, Nashville

Kelly A. Bernard

John A. Kolb Jr.

Vice President

S. Dwight Blackwood

D. Blake Lyons

Vice President and Assistant General Counsel

Vice President

Anita F. Brown

Lesley A. McClure

Vice President and Financial Management and Planning

Vice President and Regional Executive, Birmingham

Controller
Edward J. Nosal
Annella D. Campbell-Drake

Vice President

Vice President
Christopher L. Oakley
Michael J. Chriszt

Vice President and Regional Executive, Jacksonville

Vice President and Public Affairs Officer
Gregory K. Odum
Suzanna J. Costello

Vice President

Vice President
Doris Quiros
Angela H. Dirr

Vice President

Vice President and Associate General Counsel
Cynthia L. Rasche
Patrick E. Dyer

Vice President

Vice President
Juan C. Sanchez
W. Russell Eubanks

Vice President

Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer
Adrienne L. Slack
Richard M. Fraher

Vice President and Regional Executive, New Orleans

Vice President and Counsel to the Retail Payments Office
Jeffrey W. Thomas
Karen B. Gilmore

Vice President

Vice President and Regional Executive, Miami
Charles L. Weems
Amy S. Goodman
Vice President

Vice President

Cynthia C. Goodwin

Julius G. Weyman

Vice President

Todd H. Greene

Kenneth S. Wilcox

Vice President

Kevin T. Jansen

Christina M. Wilson

Vice President

Vice President and Branch Manager, Jacksonville

Mark J. Jensen

Stephen W. Wise

Vice President

Gregory S. Johnston
Vice President

Assistant Vice Presidents
Giuseppina Bitetti

Karen Leone de Nie

Assistant Vice President

Kim K. Blythe

Stephen A. Levy

Assistant Vice President

Jonathan L. Burns

Margaret D. Martin

Assistant Vice President

Tonya D. Byrd-Sorrells

Lantanya N. Mauriello

Assistant Vice President

Reginald R. Chever

Srinivas V. Nori

Assistant Vice President

Karen W. Clayton

John C. Pelick

Assistant Vice President, EEO Officer, and Deputy Diversity

Assistant Vice President

Officer
J. Elaine Phifer
Patrick R. Dierberger

Assistant Vice President and Compliance Officer

Assistant Vice President
Charles W. Prime
Michael E. Duren

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President
Jaswanth G. Rao
Shilpa S. Dutt

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President
Robin R. Ratliff
Bevery L. Ferrell

Assistant Vice President and Public Information Officer

Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager, Miami
Paul D. Roberts
Travis T. Fix

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President
Princeton G. Rose
Gregory S. Fuller

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President
W. Allen Sautter
Jennifer L. Gibilterra

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President
Jeffrey F. Schiele
J. Mark Gibson

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President and Assistant General Auditor
Maria Smith
Assistant Vice President

M. Laurel Graefe

Richard H. Squires

Assistant Vice President

Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager, New Orleans

S. Craig Griffin

Anthony S. Stallings

Assistant Vice President

Rebecca L. Gunn

Allen D. Stanley

Assistant Vice President

Torion L. Harden

Bradley J. Waring

Assistant Vice President

Paige B. Harris

William R. Wheeler III

Assistant Vice President

Carolyn Ann Healy

S. Paige Wilcox

Assistant Vice President

Kathryn G. Hinton

Michael R. Williams

Assistant Vice President

Dana M. Keeley

Molly T. Willison

Assistant Vice President

Karl Lamb
Assistant Vice President
Lisa Lee-Fogarty
Assistant Vice President

JUMP TO: Sixth District Directors • Management Committee & Officers • Advisory Councils

ADVISORY COUNCILS

Federal Advisory Council Representative
William H. Rogers, Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
SunTrust Banks Inc.

Regional Economic Information Network Advisory Councils
Agriculture
David Bertrand

Gaylon Lawrence Jr.

Owner/Partner

Partner

Bertrand Rice LLC

The Lawrence Group

Elton, LA

Nashville, TN

Lorraine Bertrand

Larkin Martin

Owner/Partner

Managing Partner

Bertrand Rice LLC

Martin Farms

Elton, LA

Courtland, AL

Donna Jo Curtis

James H. Sanford

Owner/Operator

Chairman of the Board

Curtis Farms

Home Place Farm Inc.

Athens, AL

Prattville, AL

Marsha Folsom

Gray Skipper

Chief Development Officer

Vice President

Resource Fiber

Scotch Plywood Company

Cullman, AL

Fulton, AL

Mike Giles

Robert M. Thomas

President

Georgia Poultry Federation

Two Rivers Ranch Inc.

Gainesville, GA

Thonotosassa, FL

George F. Hamner Jr.

John D. Williams

President

President and Chief Executive Officer

Indian River Exchange Packers Inc.

Zen-Noh Grain Corporation

Vero Beach, FL

Mandeville, LA

Bart Krisle
Chief Executive Officer
Tennessee Farmers Co-op
La Vergne, TN

Energy
Kenneth Beer

Jeffrey Platt

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director

Stone Energy Corporation

Tidewater

Lafayette, LA

New Orleans, LA

W. Paul Bowers

Thomas Shaw

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer

President

Georgia Power Company

LOOP, LLC

Atlanta, GA

Convington, LA

Charles Goodson

Earl Shipp

President and Chief Executive Officer

Vice President of Operations

PetroQuest Energy

The Dow Chemical Company, U.S. Gulf Coast

Lafayette, LA

Freeport, TX

Mark Hatfield

Stephen Toups

Vice President, Gulf of Mexico Unit

Executive Vice President

Chevron North America, Gulf of Mexico Unit

Turner Industries LLC

Covington, LA

Baton Rouge, LA

Mark Maisto

Thomas Yura

President, Commodities, Trading, and Commercial Services

Senior Vice President and General Manager

Commodities, Trading, and Commercial Services

BASF

Nextera Energy Inc.

Geismar, LA

Juno Beach, FL
Michael Mansfield
Chief Executive Officer
Mansfield Oil Company
Gainesville, GA

Trade and Transportation
Adriene Bailey

Deborah A. McDowell

Principal

Director of Customer Service and Business Development

Brooks Davis Consulting

Seaonus

Jacksonville, FL

Mark Bostick

Clifford K. Otto

President

Chief Executive Officer

COMCAR Logistics

Saddle Creek Logistics Services

Auburndale, FL

Lakeland, FL

Michael Brannigan

David Parker

President and Chief Executive Officer

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer

The Suddath Companies

Covenant Transportation Group

Jacksonville, FL

Chattanooga, TN

Mary Cavarra

Andy Powell

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Chartering Director

Ingram Industries Inc.

G2 Ocean

Nashville, TN

Atlanta, GA

Doug Downing

Ken Roberts

Chief Financial Officer

President

Canal Barge Company Inc.

WorldCity Inc.

New Orleans, LA

Coral Gables, FL

James Hertwig

Kim Wyant

Former President and Chief Executive Officer

President, Florida District

Florida East Coast Railway

UPS

Jacksonville, FL

Orlando, Florida

Griffith Lynch
Executive Director
Georgia Ports Authority
Savannah, Georgia

Travel and Tourism
Lesz Banham

Ina Lee

Vice President, Financial Planning and Communications

Owner/President

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S.

TravelHost of Greater Fort Lauderdale

Orlando, FL

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Howard Erbstein

Mark Romig

Chief Operating Officer

President and Chief Executive Officer

The Kolter Group

New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation

West Palm Beach, FL

New Orleans, LA

Shelly Smith Fano

Alvin L. West

Director of Hospitality Management

Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Finance and

Miami Dade College

Administration

Miami, FL

Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau
Miami, FL

Amanda Hite
President and Chief Executive Officer

Andrew Wexler

STR Inc.

Chief Executive Officer

Hendersonville, TN

Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation
Peachtree Corners, GA

Mark A. Kempa
Senior Vice President of Finance

Mark Woodworth

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

President

Miami, FL

PKF Hospitality Research
Atlanta, GA

Other Advisory Councils
Center for Quantitative Economic Research
Lawrence Christiano

Richard Rogerson

Department of Economics

Department of Economics and Public Affairs

Northwestern University

Princeton University

Martin Eichenbaum

Thomas Sargent

Ethel and John Lindgren Professor of Economics

Leonard N. Stern School of Business

Northwestern University

New York University

Sergio Rebelo

Chris Sims

Department of Economics

Kellogg School of Management

Princeton University

Northwestern University

Center for Human Capital Studies
Tim Arnst

Ann Machado

Senior Vice President

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Universal Parks and Resorts

Creative Staffing

Orlando, FL

Miami, FL

Ed Castile

Les Range

Director

Regional Administrator

Alabama Industrial Training

U.S. Department of Labor

Montgomery, AL

Atlanta, GA

Melissa Elliott

Robert Ravener

Senior Vice President of Human Resources

Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer

Express Employment Professionals

Dollar General

Covington, LA

Nashville, TN

Charles Flemming

Dwight Sandlin

President

Owner

Georgia AFL-CIO

Signature Homes

Atlanta, GA

Birmingham, AL

Jerrold Hill

Veronica Snyder

Vice President, Human Resources

President

Southern Company Gas

Career Professionals Inc.

Atlanta, GA

Morristown, TN

Keith Jackson
Vice President, Human Resources Mobility and Consumer
Operations
AT&T Services Inc.
Atlanta, GA

Community Depository Institutions
Brad M. Bolton

Robert R. Jones III

Senior Lender

President and Chief Executive Officer

Community Spirit Bank

United Bank of Atmore

Red Bay, AL

Atmore, AL

Alvin J. Cowans

Edward J. "Ed" Langton

President and Chief Executive Officer

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

McCoy Federal Credit Union

Grand Bank for Savings, FSB

Orlando, FL

Hattiesburg, MS

Carlos R. Fernandez-Guzman

Miriam Lopez

President and Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Lending Officer

Pacific National Bank

Marquis Bank

Miami, FL

Coral Gables, FL

Caren C. Gabriel

David R. "Jude" Melville III

President and Chief Executive Officer

Ascend Federal Credit Union

Business First Bank

Tullahoma, TN

Baton Rouge, LA

Hank Halter

Kim Davis Wilson

Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Delta Community Credit Union

OneSouth Bank

Atlanta, GA

Chipley, FL

Shirley G. Hughes
President and Chief Executive Officer
Elizabethton Federal Savings Bank
Elizabethton, TN

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COVID-19 RESOURCES AND INFORMATION: See the Atlanta Fed's list of publications, information, and resources; listen to our Pandemic Response webinar series.

ECONOMY MATTERS

ANNUAL REPORT

Milestones & More
JUMP TO: Milestones • Financial & Audit Statements • OMWI Report • Past Annual Reports • Credits

MILESTONES

The Atlanta Fed
Raphael Bostic took office in June as the 15th president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta
Fed. Bostic succeeded Dennis Lockhart, who retired in February. Before joining the Atlanta Fed,
Bostic was the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the
Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.

Research and Monetary Policy
The 2017 Financial Markets Conference explored changes in regulation since the financial crisis and
how they affect financial systems, markets, and institutions. The Center for Financial Innovation and
Stability presented the conference. More than 160 attendees represented central banks, financial firms,
Federal Reserve Banks, government agencies, and universities.
Research economists published papers and articles on a range of timely topics, including how
governments can encourage innovation in a fiscally sustainable way; the shortcomings of economic
models; the effect of unemployment on family welfare; how losing government-sponsored health
insurance affects individuals’ financial well-being; how asset price movements across markets and
countries affect prices in other markets and countries; and the role of poor health in rural labor force
participation.

The Center for Human Capital Studies held its annual employment conference. Economists from
prominent academic departments and central banks discussed a range of topics affecting the labor
supply and wages. Economist Pat Higgins introduced several updates to the popular GDPNow
forecasting tool.
The Center for Financial Innovation and Stability and Georgia State University cosponsored a
conference exploring how financial regulation can keep pace with rapid technological advances and how
monetary policy works to reduce the risk and costliness of future financial crises.

The Atlanta Fed's Center for Quantitative Economic Research and the International Monetary Fund cosponsored the center's second
conference on China's economy, the world's second largest economy. The conference assembled experts from around the world to discuss a
number of pressing
facing
China: financial reforms,
saving behavior,
politicalDEVELOPMENT
and social factors, innovations,
and
growth.
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In October, the Community and Economic Development (CED) group established the Center for
Workforce and Economic Opportunity. The center focuses on employment policies and labor market
issues that affect low- and moderate-income individuals. It acts as a bridge between research and
practice, connecting researchers, businesses, and policymakers with innovative approaches to creating
economic opportunity through education and employment.

The Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity introduced the Opportunity Occupations Monitor, a
tool that tracks the prevalence of jobs that pay above the median wage in a state or metro area.
The Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity also helped to stage a Federal Reserve System
conference on workforce development in Austin, Texas, in October.
CED held a conference on heirs' property, a relatively obscure but critical factor in rural poverty.
Academics and other experts presented research and discussed how to confront the myriad problems
that result from heirs' properties, which are parcels of land inherited by the descendants of an owner
who died without a proper will.
CED launched an initiative on the social determinants of health. Led by senior CED adviser Sameera
Fazili, the project aims to spur discussion and, ultimately, collaboration among health care providers and community development practitioners
in the region, particularly in underserved rural areas.
CED sponsored or cosponsored additional events, including a conference in Nashville on encouraging
the development of mixed-income housing, a symposium exploring changes in the labor market and
data sources used to study it, and an event examining regional food system investments to feed smallbusiness development.
CED released an updated version of the Small City Economic Dynamism Index.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard visited Atlanta neighborhoods with CED and supervision
and regulation team members. They met with community members and organizations to discuss local
efforts to improve low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

The Americas Center and Emory University held the sixth Atlanta Workshop on International Economics
at Emory on December 8–9. Economists from the Federal Reserve System and leading universities
presented and discussed new research related to exchange rates, trade, sovereign risk, and capital
flows.
Mexican Ambassador Gerónimo Gutiérrez Fernandez spoke at an Atlanta Fed dinner that was cohosted
by the Americas Center and the World Affairs Council of Atlanta. Ambassador Gutiérrez discussed the
current state of U.S.-Mexican relations and the prospects for maintaining strong commercial and
financial ties.
Distinguished economists Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva visited the Atlanta
Fed Research Department in February. Mesa-Lago is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of
Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. His latest book, Voces de Cambio en el Sector No Estatal Cubano
(Voices of Change in the Cuban Non-state Sector), was published in 2017. Pérez Villanueva is a professor in Havana.

Corporate Citizenship, Economic Education, and Public Outreach
Seventy-two Atlanta Fed employees served on the boards of directors or advisory councils for more than 100 nonprofit organizations working to
address critical community needs such as access to affordable housing, services for the homeless, and job training and placement for low- to
moderate-income individuals.
Contributing more than 3,000 hours of volunteer time, 455 employees and their families and friends read to students, offered career advice and
résumé and interviewing assistance, prepared and delivered meals to seniors, cleaned up public spaces, and donated new and used goods to
benefit veterans, seniors, and youth.
More than 8,900 teachers participated in economic education workshops, webinars, and presentations. Attendance at the Atlanta Fed’s
headquarters museum and the New Orleans Branch's museum rose 23 percent over 2016, to more than 15,000. Through its economic
education programs, the team met a strategic objective to reach 75 percent of high schools in the Sixth District that are identified as inner city,
majority-minority, or girls' schools.

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Online programs of the economic education team had a strong year. Page views of the Classroom Economist, Extra Credit, Katrina's

MILESTONES & MORE

Classroom, and classroom lessons and activities rose 31 percent over 2016, to 690,975. Student
enrollments in classroom videos edged up 1 percent, to more than 139,000.
In the ECONversations series of webcasts, Atlanta Fed experts discussed subjects including changes in
e-commerce and the growth in mobile payments, effects of poor health on the workforce, and the Bank’s
2016 annual report on secular and cyclical changes in the economy over the last decade.

Public Affairs Forums brought leading authorities to Atlanta Fed offices to offer economic perspectives
on public policy issues. Forums explored topics including opportunities from fintech, the effects of fiscal
policies on the world, and the impact of income inequality on workers and consumers. New Atlanta Fed
president Raphael Bostic spoke to business and community leaders at forums in Jacksonville, New
Orleans, and Birmingham.
The Atlanta Fed Speakers Bureau facilitated 365 presentations in which employees shared research,
data, and information with community groups and professional associations. The Speakers Bureau
hosted 180 events for partner organizations.

Payments
The Retail Payments Office successfully implemented the second of three phased enhancements in an
industrywide effort to expand expedited clearing and settlement of Automated Clearinghouse (ACH)
transactions. With the change, many ACH debit transactions became eligible for same-day processing
and settlement. Same-Day ACH represents the most significant change to the ACH network in more
than 40 years.
The Retail Payments Office continued to enhance its risk-management offerings under its FedPayments
Reporter Service, which provides detailed information on ACH transactions. The new product features
include customized reporting to help institutions keep a pulse on their ACH processing activity, which
helps mitigate risk and fraud.

Supervision and Regulation
In 2017, the Supervision and Regulation Division (S&R) continued to inform the banking industry and general public through a variety o
publications, and live events. The division produced the annual Banking Outlook Conference,
"ViewPoint" articles, and ViewPoint Live! webcasts.
The S&R division also held the Southeast Bankers Outreach Forum, an event geared to community
bankers that featured presentations and panel discussions on banking conditions, emerging risks,
commercial real estate, and supervisory expectations.
The division's real estate specialists shared their expertise in several events, including an "Ask the Fed"
series on regional commercial real estate conditions. Ask the Fed is a Federal Reserve System program
for senior bankers and officials of state bankers' associations. The program addresses regulatory issues
or supervisory guidance.
Staff also shared their knowledge in numerous educational settings, including training events for foreign bank supervisors. International training
and assistance programs promote sound supervisory practices abroad and foster relationships with central banks and bank supervisory
authorities of other countries.
The division's Credit Risk Management Department provided critical support to financial institutions following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and
Maria. Core clearing and settling of accounts, as well as emergency access to the discount window, is critical in a crisis.

The O ce of Minority and Women Inclusion
The Bank received external recognition for its commitment to diversity and inclusion in 2017. The Atlanta
Fed was named to DiversityInc's list of top regional companies for diversity and earned a perfect score
on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index—both for the fourth consecutive year.
The Bank added three new employee resource networks (ERNs) to further engage staff members in
actively supporting diversity and inclusion. The three new ERNs included Honoring Our Latin Allies,
Veterans Resource
and
Working FamiliesPAYMENTS
Network. The Bank
now has eight
ERNs.
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FINANCIAL & AUDIT STATEMENTS

Financial Statements
The Board of Governors and the Federal Reserve Banks annually prepare and release audited financial statements reflecting
balances (as of December 31) and income and expenses for the year then ended.
Download Financial Statements

Audit Statement
The Federal Reserve Board engaged KPMG to audit the 2017 combined and individual financial statements of the Reserve Banks.*
In 2017, KPMG also conducted audits of internal controls over financial reporting for each of the Reserve Banks. Fees for KPMG
services totaled $6.8 million. To ensure auditor independence, the Board of Governors requires that KPMG be independent in all
matters relating to the audits. Specifically, KPMG may not perform services for the Reserve Banks or others that would place it in a
position of auditing its own work, making management decisions on behalf of the Reserve Banks, or in any other way impairing its
audit independence. In 2017, the Bank did not engage KPMG for any non-audit services.

* In addition, KPMG audited the Office of Employee Benefits of the Federal Reserve System (OEB), the Retirement Plan for Employees of the Federal Reserve
System (System Plan), and the Thrift Plan for Employees of the Federal Reserve System (Thrift Plan). The System Plan and the Thrift Plan provide retirement
benefits to employees of the Board, the Federal Reserve Banks, the OEB, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

JUMP TO: Milestones • Financial & Audit Statements • OMWI Report • Past Annual Reports • Credits

OMWI REPORT

Each year, the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta provides a congressional
report summarizing the office's actions with regard to the requirements under Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act of 2010. This report highlights the work OMWI performed in the previous year to take the affirmative steps
that the Dodd-Frank Act addresses—specifically, ensuring workforce and supplier diversity, as well as advancing financial literacy in
inner-city, majority/minority, and girls' schools. The Atlanta Fed undertakes these efforts in the Sixth Federal Reserve District.

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PAST ANNUAL REPORTS
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The Atlanta Fed's annual reports highlight the work of the Atlanta Fed over the preceding year. Reports before 2012 were printed
publications, and many of these are available online on our website in PDF. Beginning in 2011, we have published online-only annual
reports. These contain topical essays, dynamic charts, and videos and imagery, as well as links to the Bank's financial statements
and lists of our current directors and officers.
View Past Reports

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CREDITS

About the Atlanta Fed
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the United States that, with the Board of Governors in
Washington, DC, make up the Federal Reserve System—the nation's central bank. Since its establishment by an act of Congress in
1913, the Federal Reserve System's primary role has been to foster a sound financial system and a healthy economy. To advance
this goal, the Atlanta Fed helps formulate monetary policy, supervises banks and bank and financial holding companies, and provides
payment services to depository institutions and the federal government. Through its six offices in Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville,
Miami, Nashville, and New Orleans, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta serves the Sixth Federal Reserve District, which comprises
Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Annual Report Staff
Mike Chriszt

Jean Tate

Vice President and Public Affairs Officer

Cassie Gage
Marketing and Social Media

Robin Ratliff
Assistant Vice President and Public Information Officer

Mark McElroy
Creative Services Director

Nancy Condon
Managing Editor, Content and Publishing Director

Graham Justice
Jason Palmer

Carole Starkey

Video Producers

Web Communications Director
Raphael Bostic
Charles Davidson

President and CEO

Karen Jacobs
Writers

Stuart Andreason
Marie Gooding

Peter Hamilton

Madeline Marsden

Graphic Designer

Paula Tkac
Cheryl Venable

David Fine

Larry Wall

Photographer

Advisers and Contributors

Eric Blanks

Jeanne Zimmermann

Michael Zavarello

Web Editor

Web Developers

Branches & O ces
Atlanta Office

Miami Branch

1000 Peachtree Street N.E.

9100 N.W. 36th Street

Atlanta, Georgia 30309-4470

Doral, Florida 33178-2425

Birmingham Branch

Nashville Branch

524 Liberty Parkway

333 Commerce Street

Birmingham, Alabama 35242-7531

Suite 1000
Nashville, Tennessee 37201

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Jacksonville Branch

New Orleans Branch

800 Water Street

525 St. Charles Avenue

Jacksonville, Florida 32204

New Orleans, Louisiana 70130-3480

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Full text of Annual Report of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta : 2017 Annual Report : Doing Our Part for a Stable and Resilient Economy : Annual Report

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