The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is coordinating regulatory and supervisory efforts with all relevant federal and state banking agencies and banking organizations within the Seventh District. This COVID-19 Supervision Resources page is a dedicated to providing timely regulatory information and resources for banking professionals, consumers, and other interested parties affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The content of this page focuses on the latest industry guidance, policy statements, press releases and other links issued by the various banking agencies. This information will be frequently updated with relevant content given the evolving nature of the situation. You can also find updated information on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 website.

The Chicago Fed Survey of Business Conditions (CFSBC) is a survey of business contacts located in the Seventh Federal Reserve District. The Chicago Fed produces diffusion indexes based on the quantitative questions in the survey that are released at 10:00 a.m. ET on scheduled days, normally in the second week of each calendar month.

During times of uncertainty, like the current public health emergency, security threats tend to increase to capitalize on the fear that people feel. As a part of the Federal Reserve Banks’ continuing commitment to security, we want to remind our customers of the importance of protecting their organizations against cyberattacks. Your organization should ensure your staff receive ongoing training necessary to recognize and report various types of phishing attacks.

Phishing is a technique used by threat actors in an attempt to acquire sensitive data through a fraudulent solicitation, in email or on a website, in which the perpetrator masquerades as a legitimate business or reputable person. The financial services industry is constantly among the most targeted industries for phishing attacks. Many organizations report daily phishing attempts. It is estimated that over 90% of all successful hacking and data breach incidents originate from phishing attacks. Due to the...

You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

The Chicago Fed’s National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) provides a comprehensive weekly update on U.S. financial conditions in money markets, debt and equity markets and the traditional and “shadow” banking systems. Because U.S. economic and financial conditions tend to be highly correlated, we also present an alternative index, the adjusted NFCI (ANFCI). This index isolates a component of financial conditions uncorrelated with economic conditions to provide an update on financial conditions relative to current economic conditions.

The NFCI and ANFCI are updated on a weekly basis at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and cover the time period through the previous Friday. When a federal holiday falls on a Wednesday or earlier in the week, the NFCI and ANFCI will be updated on Thursday.

On behalf of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, I am pleased to present the 2019 Annual Report of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI).

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago made notable progress toward achieving its diversity and inclusion (D&I) goals for 2019, pursuant to Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. As we reflect on the progress to date, much of our success lies in the consistent and deliberate focus on improving the Bank’s workforce diversity, as well as the collective efforts to shift the culture toward greater inclusion by leveraging the support of leadership, the D&I team, the Employee Support Network Groups (ESNGs), and various D&I champions across the Bank. Through data and anecdotal accounts, this annual report describes the Bank’s D&I successes and challenges from the past year, as well as future plans to sustain our progress.

Over the next year, we will continue to...

Charles L. Evans, President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, participated in a Virtual Program hosted by The Economic Club of Chicago. After brief remarks, he participated in a Q&A session with Debra A. Cafaro, Chair, The Economic Club of Chicago, who asked questions compiled from members in advance.

Economists forecast the unemployment rate all the time. Usually, though, they use data over the previous months and quarters to forecast the unemployment rate out several years. Since the relationships between the unemployment rate and things like GDP growth and employment are mostly stable over time, and since month-to-month movements in the unemployment rate are usually small, these forecasts usually work well.

The current Covid-19 crisis, however, has caused a rapid contraction in economic activity and a sharp deterioration in labor market conditions. Policymakers need a plausible estimate of what unemployment may look like over the next several months rather than the next few years. Generating such an estimate is not easy—there are limited data available to generate such a short-term estimate, and nearly all of the available data are for a time prior to many of the stay-at-home directives and moves to essential services that have led to the contraction.

In...

Jason Faberman is a senior economist and research advisor in the economic research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His research focuses on the labor market, with a particular focus on how the interaction between employers and workers affects urban areas and the overall macroeconomy.

Faberman’s research has been published various journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Monetary Economics, American Economics Journal: Macroeconomics, the Journal of Economic Perspectives and the Journal of Regional Science.

Prior to joining the Chicago Fed in 2011, Faberman served as a senior economist with the Philadelphia Fed and as a research economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Faberman received a B.S. in environmental science and a B.A. in economics from Lehigh University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

The Chicago Fed’s National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) provides a comprehensive weekly update on U.S. financial conditions in money markets, debt and equity markets and the traditional and “shadow” banking systems. Because U.S. economic and financial conditions tend to be highly correlated, we also present an alternative index, the adjusted NFCI (ANFCI). This index isolates a component of financial conditions uncorrelated with economic conditions to provide an update on financial conditions relative to current economic conditions.

The NFCI and ANFCI are updated on a weekly basis at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and cover the time period through the previous Friday. When a federal holiday falls on a Wednesday or earlier in the week, the NFCI and ANFCI will be updated on Thursday.

The Chicago Fed’s National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) provides a comprehensive weekly update on U.S. financial conditions in money markets, debt and equity markets and the traditional and “shadow” banking systems. Because U.S. economic and financial conditions tend to be highly correlated, we also present an alternative index, the adjusted NFCI (ANFCI). This index isolates a component of financial conditions uncorrelated with economic conditions to provide an update on financial conditions relative to current economic conditions.

The NFCI and ANFCI are updated on a weekly basis at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and cover the time period through the previous Friday. When a federal holiday falls on a Wednesday or earlier in the week, the NFCI and ANFCI will be updated on Thursday.