Federal Reserve
Est. 1913
Federal Reserve System
Regulates bank holding companies. Actions affect the parent entities of major US banks.
Parent
Independent federal agency
Jurisdiction
State-chartered banks that are Federal Reserve members, bank holding companies
Headline
Holding company enforcement · Systemic risk oversight · State member banks
What the Federal Reserve is
The Federal Reserve — "the Fed" — is the central bank of the United States. In its regulatory capacity, it supervises state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System and, critically, bank holding companies — the parent corporations that own banks. This means the Fed regulates the holding company structure of nearly every major US bank even when the OCC regulates the bank subsidiary itself.
What the Federal Reserve does
- Supervises state member banks and bank holding companies for safety, soundness, and consumer compliance
- Issues enforcement actions including written agreements, consent orders, and civil money penalties
- Conducts stress testing (DFAST) of large bank holding companies
- Sets monetary policy and manages the federal funds rate
- Oversees systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs)
- Publishes enforcement actions in a public database
Why ComplaintRate uses Federal Reserve data
Federal Reserve enforcement actions typically target bank holding companies — the parent entities of major banks. When the Fed acts, it is often addressing systemic issues across an entire corporate family rather than a single bank charter. ComplaintRate tracks Fed enforcement actions because they frequently accompany or precede CFPB and OCC actions against the same institution group, and because Fed consent orders often address the same consumer harm patterns visible in complaint data.
What Federal Reserve data means for you
If you bank with a state-chartered bank that is a Fed member, or with any bank owned by a holding company (which is most major banks), the Federal Reserve has some regulatory authority over your institution. A Fed enforcement action on ComplaintRate indicates the holding company structure — not just the bank — is under formal regulatory supervision. You can file a complaint about a state member bank with the Federal Reserve at federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo.
Federal Reserve fields in ComplaintRate database
fed_has_active_actionfed_active_actionsfed_action_typesfed_most_recent_actionfed_total_cmp_usdOther data sources
ComplaintRate.com is an independent data publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any U.S. federal agency. Data sourced from publicly available government databases.