Skip top navigation
<p>The Panic - Run on the Fourth National Bank, No. 20 Nassau Street [New York City, 1873]. (Image&nbsp;LC-USZ6-952 via<a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a00900/"> Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a>)<br></p>

The Federal Reserve monitors financial system risks and engages at home and abroad to help ensure the system supports a healthy economy for U.S. households, communities, and businesses.


Two men carry the Lehman Brother’s corporate sign to an auction house in London.
Support for Specific Institutions

The failures of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and the bailout of AIG occurred in 2008

Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, pauses during a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008. Bernanke said lending conditions in the U.S. are still "far from normal."
Fed Credit Programs

The Fed introduced various credit programs to deal with the 2007-09 financial crisis

<p><em>Image from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York 2001 </em><a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/annual-report-federal-reserve-bank-new-york-467/annual-report-year-ended-december-31-2001-672803"><em>annual report</em></a><br></p>
The Federal Reserve's Response to the September 11 Terrorist Attacks

The 9/11 attacks created massive dislocations in US financial markets. The Fed played a leading role in responding to the immediate crisis, using the wide range of its authorities to limit the economic fallout and support the US financial system.

FRBNY President William McDonough
Near Failure of LTCM

A group of banks and brokerage firms prevented the collapse of this hedge fund in 1998

A South Korean labor union member of Seoulbank, one of South Korea's most bad-debt burdened commercial banks, looks downcast.
Asian Financial Crisis

A financial crisis started in Thailand in July 1997 and spread across East Asia

Composite of newspaper headlines reporting the Stock Market Crash of 1987
Crash of 1987

The Dow dropped 22.6 percent on Black Monday, October 19, 1987

Continental Illinois bank building
Continental Illinois: A Bank That Was Too Big to Fail

The phrase “too big to fail” became commonly used for the first time after Continental’s crisis

Demonstrators in Mexico City march in protest of the International Monetary Fund and the Mexican government, 1986
Latin American Debt Crisis

During the 1980s, many Latin American countries were unable to service their foreign debt

May 13, 1985:&nbsp;Depositors line up to withdraw money from a Baltimore bank following the court order that limited depositors' cash withdrawals until a purchaser was found for the troubled savings and loan.
Savings and Loan Crisis

The 1980s was a period of distress for the financial sector, especially savings and loans

President Roosevelt signs the Glass-Steagall Act alongside the bill's co-sponsors, Senator Carter Glass and Representative Henry Steagall, and others.
Banking Act of 1933

Commonly called Glass-Steagall, the Act was widely debated before its enactment

President Franklin&nbsp;Roosevelt signing the Emergency Banking Act
Emergency Banking Act

The 1933 law was aimed at restoring public confidence in the nation’s financial system

Crowds gather on Wall Street as banks reopened on March 13, 1933, after the Bank Holiday.
Bank Holiday of 1933

For an entire week in March 1933, all banking transactions were suspended

Source: Federal Home Loan Banks (1952).
Federal Home Loan Bank Advances

The Federal Home Loan Banks were established to advance funds to home mortgage lenders that historically did not have access to the Federal Reserve System.

<p>Closed bank, northern Minnesota town</p>
Emergency Lending to Nonbank Borrowers

The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932 expanded the Fed's ability to make certain loans under "unusual and exigent circumstances."

<p>Clerks at the Reconstruction Finance Corporation computing interest on RFC loans, c. 1937</p>
Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act

During the years 1932 and 1933, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation effectively served as the discount lending arm of the Federal Reserve Board.

The crowd outside of the East New York Savings Bank during the run on that bank,&nbsp;November 24, 1933
Banking Panics of 1931-33

Earlier regional banking panics turned into a nationwide financial crisis in fall 1931

<p>John Poole, president of the Federal American National Bank in Washington, D.C., stands on a&nbsp;narrow ledge outside the building and declares to the crowd that the institution was sound, February 5, 1931.&nbsp;</p>
Banking Panics of 1930-31

The U.S. appeared to be poised for economic recovery when a series of bank panics began in fall 1930

Crowd in front of the New York Stock Exchange, October 1929
Crash of 1929

On October 28, 1929, the Dow declined nearly 13 percent

Crowd on Wall Street during the Panic of 1907.
Panic of 1907

The story of the crash that inspired monetary reform

Drawing titled 'The recent panic - scene in the New York Stock Exchange on the morning of Friday, May 5th'
Banking Panics of the Gilded Age

The late 19th century was beset by panics