Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Federal financial institution regulatory agencies today updated their existing guidance on liquidity risks and contingency planning. The updated guidance highlights that depository institutions should regularly evaluate and update their contingency funding plans.

The updated guidance encourages depository institutions to incorporate the discount window as part of their contingency funding plans. Consistent with other contingency funding sources, the guidance reinforces the supervisory expectation that if the discount window is part of a depository institution's contingency funding plans, the depository institution should establish and maintain operational readiness to use the discount window, which includes conducting periodic transactions.

The discount window can readily provide funding for depository institutions and the Central Liquidity Facility can do so for credit unions. The guidance applies to all depository institutions supervised by the agencies.