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<p>The First National Bank Building First National Bank Building, also known as the Old Monroe County Savings Bank Building (Image&nbsp;<a>LC-DIG-highsm-52790</a> via Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)</p>

The Federal Reserve promotes the safety and soundness of financial institutions like banks and monitors their impact on the financial system as a whole.


President Obama Signs the Dodd-Frank Act
Dodd-Frank Act

This wide-ranging legislation was signed by President Obama in 2010

A sign advertising refinancing services is posted in a vacant lot April 29, 2008, in Stockton, California.
Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The 2007-10 crisis stemmed in part from an expansion of mortgages to high-risk borrowers

Jim Leach, R-Iowa, Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Thomas J. Bliley Jr., R-Va., during a press conference on their compromise bill.
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

The 1999 Act promoted financial integration by repealing parts of the Glass-Steagall Act while giving the Fed new supervisory powers

President Clinton signs the Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Don Riegle and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentson look on.
Riegle-Neal Act

The 1994 law removed many of the restrictions on bank branching across state lines

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Building in Washington, D.C.
FDICIA

The 1991 Act was intended to address problems in the banking and thrift industries

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

President Ronald Reagan signs the Garn-St. Germain Act in the White House Rose Garden surrounded by administration officials and members of Congress.
Garn-St Germain Act

The 1982 Act aimed to ease pressures on depository institutions as the Fed acted to curb inflation

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

An advertisement for Chase National Bank featuring its capital position. (Source: <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/105/item/598442">Rand McNally Bankers Director, 1927</a>.)
Bank Capital Standards

A key goal of bank supervision and regulation has been to ensure that banks maintain sufficient capital.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Speaking to the Press
Bank Holding Company Act

In 1956, Congress gave the Fed increased oversight of the banking industry

The Honorable Louis McFadden
McFadden Act

The Fed’s success led to this legislation in 1927, which rechartered the Federal Reserve Banks in perpetuity among other items