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As this year’s annual report clearly illustrates, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is undergoing considerable change. A new model for how we operate our branches is just one indication—though a significant one—that the phrase business as usual no longer applies to the Eighth District. Thus, for 2004 we deemed it necessary to write a new vision statement for the Bank, which reads: The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis will be recognized as a leader in shaping the future of the Fed’s business and support functions, and as a benchmark provider of services among Federal Reserve banks. Looking back on 2003, we are encouraged to see that in many aspects, we are already fulfilling these critical roles. Many of our employees—like those who support the Fed’s important relationship with the U.S. Treasury—exhibit leadership on a daily basis. As home to the Treasury Relations and Support Office, the St. Louis Fed oversees the full range of projects and services that Reserve banks around the country provide to the Treasury. In addition, the District continued its leadership and operational support of the Treasury’s cash management, tax collection and collateral monitoring business. Year-end feedback from Treasury senior executives indicated a high level of satisfaction with our performance at both the District and System level. The District’s Banking Supervision and Regulation Division displayed leadership in a number of areas. Division management either chairs or participates on several critical System-level committees and work groups. On behalf of the Federal Reserve System, the consumer compliance function developed a web site to train bankers on significant changes to Regulation C. The web site received national acclaim across the banking community. The Center for Online Learning, one of the division’s unique offerings, continued to grow as the System leader in web-based training, resulting in a savings in time and money for learners. Our Research Division continued to be a leader in the electronic transmission of economic data and Bank-related information via the Internet. After 38 years, the printing of U.S. Financial Data was discontinued and successfully transitioned to electronic distribution. Federal Reserve Electronic Data (FRED) traffic increased 79 percent over 2002, and the Research function’s web pages received 18.8 million hits during 2003, a 65 percent increase over 2002. St. Louis Research economists realized substantial increases in productivity last year, with 43 articles published or accepted for publication in refereed journals, 20 more than in 2002. Also, Bank economists made 118 presentations at System meetings, professional conferences and university-sponsored seminars, double the amount from 2002. In partnership with the Fourth Federal Reserve District, the Bank pioneered the first regional approach to financial services sales and marketing. This endeavor resulted in a savings of approximately $2 million in the two districts as productivity was improved and redundancies eliminated. The collaborative approach may serve as a template for similar sales and marketing consolidations in other districts. Continuing to place a high priority on the Bank’s public presence, the Community Affairs Office sponsored 42 meetings for District audiences on topics such as serving immigrant markets, community investment opportunities and personal financial education. Our economic education efforts drew more than 900 people to 34 events throughout the year. The Bank’s tour program attracted 255 groups for a total attendance of 5,359. The St. Louis Fed led a System work group to create a single web page from which visitors can link directly to all regional and national Fed web sites, as well as other selected Fed resources. The page is located at www.federalreserveonline.org. To explain what it means to be a benchmark provider of services, one need only look at the Bank’s Check and Cash departments. During a year of uncertainty, these departments performed in an outstanding manner. All four District check operations areas met their net revenue, cost and productivity targets. Cash exceeded its bundles-per-hour target, as well as the System average. In Treasury services, the District achieved 18 of 19 operational/service quality measures in 2003, and a formal customer satisfaction survey conducted in late 2002 showed that 94 percent of Treasury Tax and Loan (TT&L) customers are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the District’s services. Our bank examiners met nearly all examination, inspection and applications processing mandates. The Credit/Payments Risk and Statistics function achieved all of its operating mandates, even during a year in which the functions were reorganized to realize efficiencies and enhance cross-functional communications and staff development. Staff members in these areas participated in new outreach programs to educate bankers on reporting requirements, account management practices and new credit facilities. In 2004, the District’s primary challenge will be the check and cash consolidation efforts and the concurrent efforts to implement a new model for the branch offices. At the same time, District management will continue to look for opportunities to assume System leadership responsibilities while striving to remain a benchmark provider of services. In order to meet System security requirements and add some additional office space, last spring we announced a multiyear, multimillion-dollar strategy to renovate and expand our existing downtown St. Louis office. In addition to the extensive security improvements, we will add 54,000 square feet of office space by 2007. The St. Louis Fed is poised to face a set of challenges never encountered before. Our staff’s continued high level of performance indicates that we are well-positioned to meet the expectations and needs of the System, our customers and our constituents.
W. LeGrande Rives |
MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE (from left to right): Karl Ashman; Mary
Karr; Hank Bourgaux; LeGrande Rives; William Poole; Robert
Rasche;
Julie Stackhouse; Dave Sapenaro
