amessagefrommanagement

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis enjoys a tradition of excellent performance. That tradition continued in 2004, a year of unprecedented change. Cash and check operations in Little Rock and Louisville were consolidated into the Memphis and Cincinnati branch locations, respectively. Overall, District check net revenue exceeded Bank goals. In fact, the Bank met or exceeded every key objective that it had targeted last year, while finishing below its planned expense budget by $3 million, or 2 percent.

The Branching Out initiative took root in 2004 as the District began looking at new ways to meet community needs in our branch cities by concentrating more attention on programs related to community affairs, economic education, regional research and monetary policy.

Our employees continued to focus on four Bank-wide initiatives: risk management, customer service, staff development and employee communications. The Bank began these initiatives in 1999-2000 to improve performance and increase our System leadership responsibilities. Improvement in these areas is continuing.

What follows are highlights of the Bank’s 2004 accomplishments:

Financial Services

• Exceeded the local check net revenue commitment of $10.4 million by $1.4 million.
• Outperformed cash high-speed processing productivity target of 75 bundles per hour and unit costs of $5.65 for high-speed processing and $2.75 for paying and receiving.
• Completed the pre-implementation phase of Check 21.
• Established outsourced cash depots in Little Rock and Memphis.

U.S. Treasury Support

• Completed 11 of 13 high-priority Treasury objectives.
• Initiated a pilot marketing program to convert paper beneficiary payments to electronic payments.
• Enhanced the Treasury Web Application Infrastructure (TWAI) and shifted 16 web applications to the infrastructure.
• Expanded the Financial Management Service’s electronic payments and collection programs.

Public Affairs and Community Affairs

• Co-sponsored an international urban planning conference in Louisville.
• Launched a community development speaker series in Little Rock.
• Co-sponsored a money and banking summer course for educators.
• Co-sponsored an education conference for Mississippi teachers.
• Revamped the format for District Dialogue programs with bankers and other business and community leaders.

Research/Monetary Policy Performance

• Staff economists completed 34 working papers, published 16 articles in the Bank’s Review and spoke at an average of six public events per month.
• Established the Business and Economics Research Group (BERG) in the Eighth District.
• Implemented the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER).
• With 27.9 million hits, Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) web traffic nearly doubled in 2004.

Banking Supervision, Credit and Center for Online Learning

• Met all examination and inspection mandates.
• Opened a satellite supervision office in Memphis.
• Provided internal e-learning consulting and development services for the Federal Reserve System, and developed a course for bank directors.
• Chaired the Desktop Services Business Steering Group and the Subcommittee on Credit, Reserves and Risk Management Systems Task Force.

Administrative Services

• Completed capital improvement projects, including: opening a new remote screening facility and renovating a parking garage. Began construction of a pedestrian plaza and screening vestibule.
• Opened a new District business continuity recovery facility in December. Added a secure area for check deliveries and a new screening vestibule in Memphis.

Organizational Initiatives

• Continued rolling out Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) to all financial reporting areas in 2004, including an online Risk Awareness Training program.
• Administered the third Bank-wide communications survey since 1999. The results showed steady improvement in the internal communications environment.
• Continued the Customer Service Awareness program, which includes goals for key operations.
• Expanded the Bank’s Staff Development program to include a leadership series.

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