No Changes Recommended to Freedom of Information Act Exemption Included in the Amended Federal Reserve Act

January 18, 2013

Memorandum

As required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Office of Inspector General studied the impact that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption established under section 11(s) of the amended Federal Reserve Act has had on the public's ability to access information about the administration of emergency credit facilities, discount window lending programs, and open market operations by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The act also requires us to report our results to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the United States Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Attached is our report on the subject matter. We concluded that the FOIA exemption in section 11(s) of the amended FRA has not impacted the public's ability to access information about the Board's administration of emergency credit facilities, discount window lending programs, or open market operations. We are not recommending any change to this FOIA exemption.

We provided you and the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston with a copy of our draft report for review and comment. In your response, you indicated that you agreed with our conclusion. We have included your response as an appendix to our report.

We appreciate the cooperation that we received from Federal Reserve System staff during our evaluation. This report will be added to our public website and will be summarized in our next semiannual report to Congress. Please contact Cynthia Gray, Senior OIG Manager, at 202-973-5040 or me at 202-973-5003 if you would like to discuss this report or any related issues.