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BOARD OF GOVERNORS

OF THE

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20551 

DIVISION OF 

SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

DIVISION OF CONSUMER AND 

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

SR 21-13

CA 21-10

July 29, 2021

TO THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF SUPERVISION

AT EACH FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

SUBJECT: Revised Special Post-Employment Restriction for Senior Examiners and Work 

Paper Reviews for Departing Examiners

Applicability: This letter applies to: (1) examiners who have served as a safety and soundness or 

consumer affairs senior examiner (as defined in this letter) for a depository institution or 

depository institution holding company for two or more months during the examiner’s final 

twelve months of employment with a Reserve Bank, and (2) any examiner or Reserve Bank 

supervision staff who accepts employment with a depository institution or depository institution 

holding company that they examined in the twelve months prior to their departure from the 

Reserve Bank.

This letter’s provisions related to the senior examiner designation are not applicable to examiners 

working on firms within the Community Banking Organization portfolio.

This letter supersedes SR letter 16-16 / CA letter 16-7, Special Post-Employment 

Restriction for Senior Examiners, and clarifies the process for identifying, designating, and 

tracking the senior examiners subject to the special post-employment restrictions of section 10(k) 

of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDI Act) as implemented by 12 CFR 264a.1 This letter is 

intended to promote consistency across the Federal Reserve System in identifying examiners 

subject to the post-employment ethics restrictions of section 10(k).

Summary of the Special Post-Employment Restriction and Definition of Senior Examiner

In 2005, the federal bank regulatory agencies2 issued rules to implement the special postemployment restriction set forth in section 10(k) of the FDI Act, as amended by the Intelligence 

Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The special post-employment restriction 

prohibits an examiner who served as a senior examiner for a depository institution or depository 

1 12 CFR 264a - Post-Employment Restrictions for Senior Examiners, available at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgibin/text-idx?SID=2586f06f4df5925891173c6d7e122a6e&mc=true&node=pt12.4.264a&rgn=div5#se12.4.264a_13

2 The federal bank regulatory agencies are the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Office of 

the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FederalDeposit Insurance Corporation.
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institution holding company for two or more months during the examiner’s final twelve months 

of employment with a Reserve Bank from knowingly accepting compensation for service as an 

employee, officer, director, or consultant from that depository institution or depository institution 

holding company, or from certain related entities for one year after leaving Federal Reserve 

System employment.3 

For purposes of this restriction, an officer or employee of the Federal Reserve is 

considered to be a senior examiner4 for a particular depository institution or depository 

institution holding company5 if the officer or employee meets all of the following criteria:

• The officer or employee has been authorized by the Board to conduct examinations or 

inspections on behalf of the Board. 

• The officer or employee has been assigned continuing, broad, and lead responsibility 

for examining or inspecting that depository institution or depository institution 

holding company.

• The officer’s or employee’s responsibilities for examining, inspecting, and 

supervising the depository institution or depository institution holding company:

 represent a substantial portion of the officer’s or employee’s assigned 

responsibilities, and

 require the officer or employee to interact routinely with officers or 

employees of the depository institution or depository institution holding 

company.

• The depository institution or depository institution holding company to which the 

officer or employee has been assigned is not considered to be a Community Banking 

Organization, under the threshold established in the Commercial Bank Examination 

Manual (CBEM).

With respect to the application of the special post-employment restriction, the terms 

“continuing”, “broad”, “lead”, and “substantial portion” are defined as follows6: 

• Continuing—an ongoing role projected to extend beyond one examination or 

inspection cycle (e.g., an individual is assigned to examine an institution or group of 

affiliated institutions for the next 3 years); for the purposes of this criterion an 

assignment should be expected to last longer than 2 months as required by section 

10(k) of the FDI Act. 

3 See Table 1 for details of the post-employment restrictions. 

4 Per the criteria outlined in thisletter, the determination of whether or not an individual should be considered a 

senior examinerfor a particular depository institution or depository institution holding companyshould be based on 

the job duties being performed by the individual regardless of official job title.

5 This is applicable to financial market utilities (FMUs) andnonbank financial companies (NFCs) that are 

designated by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) for supervision by the Federal Reserve only to the 

extent that these entities are depository institutions or depository institution holding companies.

6 To be considered a senior examiner under this letter, an examiner must meet all four criteria outlined in this letter 

(continuing, broad, lead, and substantial portion).
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• Broad—the individual has accountability for more than one supervisory component 

rating or responsibility for final approval of multiple supervisory component ratings, 

the composite rating, consumer compliance rating, CRA rating, and/or annual 

assessment ratings as part of their Reserve Bank’s examination or inspection report 

signoff procedures.

• Lead—an individual with discretionary, point-in-time authority to assign a 

supervisory component or composite rating, consumer compliance rating, or CRA 

rating, or responsibility for final approval of a supervisory component, composite, or 

annual assessment ratings during the report signoff process.

• Substantial Portion – the individual is projected to spend a considerable majority of 

their official time (in excess of 70%) during at least two consecutive months 

supervising the depository institution or depository institution holding company.

The special post-employment restriction applies only to an examiner serving in a leadership role 

who is dedicated to supervising a single depository institution (or group of affiliated depository 

institutions) or depository institution holding company.7 Specifically, the restriction applies to

examiners serving in principal roles requiring meaningful engagement with an institution, such 

as senior supervisory officers (SSOs), deputy SSOs, enterprise risk officers (EROs), 8 central 

points of contact (CPCs), deputy CPCs, and supervisory team leaders. 9 The preceding titles 

should be treated solely as examples of roles that could be considered a senior examiner under 

this letter as the application of this restriction should be determined based on the roles and 

responsibilities of individuals rather than their specific job title. An individual does not need to 

carry the job title of examiner or senior examiner to meet the criteria to be deemed a senior 

examiner for the purposes of this letter. Questions regarding applicability and interpretation of 

this guidance and 12 CFR 264a should be directed to Reserve Bank conflicts staff.

The restriction does not cover an individual who:

• is dedicated to supervising a single depository institution (or group of affiliated 

depository institutions) or depository institution holding company, but does not have 

leadership responsibilities in conjunction with this role;

• serves in a leadership role for multiple unaffiliated depository institutions or 

depository institution holding companies at the same time; 

• does not have routine interactions with an institution for purposes of examining or 

7 An employee may be considered a senior examinerfor only oneinstitution or group of affiliated institutions at a 

time.

8 SSOs, Deputy SSOs, and EROs are job titles used by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for senior officers 

serving on dedicated teams for large financial institutions. For comparative purposes, the SSO job title is considered 

equivalent to the CPC job title, while the ERO job title is equivalent to the deputy SSO/CPC job title. 

9 A supervisory team leader is defined as any Reserve Bank officer or employee who serves in a leadership role as 

part of a dedicated supervisory team(DST). Examples of supervisory team leaders may include risk team leaders, 

business line team leaders, and the chief operating officers assigned to or supporting a dedicated supervisory team.

In the LISCC portfolio, only the roles of DST Lead and Deputy DST Lead are covered by the definition of a senior 

examiner. 
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inspecting the institution’s operations; or

• performs only periodic, short-term examinations of a depository institution or 

depository institution holding company, dedicating less than two months in a year to 

that institution; or only longer-term examinations related to specific, unplanned 

events (e.g., fraud investigations) outside the normal supervisory cycle.

Table 1 summarizes how the post-employment restriction timeline should be applied and how 

the restriction applies to senior examiner of the different types of organizations within the 

Federal Reserve’s jurisdiction. For additional information on how to implement this restriction, 

see Attachment 1 of this letter.
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Table 1 -- Summary of Prohibited Employment Based on Examination Responsibility

Senior Examiner Assignment Corresponding Prohibition

If, during two or more months of your

last twelve months of service, you

served as a senior examiner [for 

example, as an SSO, deputy SSO, ERO, 

CPC, deputy CPC, or supervisory 

team leader] for a:

Then, for one year after leaving the Federal Reserve

System, you may not knowingly accept compensation

as an officer, director, employee, or consultant

from:

State member bank • The state member bank (including any

subsidiary of the state member bank), or

• Any company (including a bank holding 

company) that controls the state member

bank.

Bank holding company (BHC) or

savings and loan holding company

(SLHC) 

• The BHC or SLHC, or

• Any depository institution controlled by the

BHC or SLHC (including any subsidiary of

the depository institution).

Foreign bank • The foreign bank,

• Any U.S. branch or agency of the foreign

bank, or

• Any U.S. depository institution controlled

by the foreign bank (including any

subsidiary of the depository institution).

Financial market utility (FMU) • The FMU, but only if it is a depository

institution or depository institution 

holding company, or

• Any entity controlled by the FMU, but only

if the FMU is a depository institution holding

company (including any subsidiary of the

entity).

Nonbank financial company (NFC)

that is designated by the Financial 

Stability Oversight Council 

(FSOC) for supervision by the 

Federal Reserve

• The NFC if it is a depository institution or

depository institution holding company, or

• Any entity controlledby the NFC, but only

if the NFC is a depository institution 

holding company (including any

subsidiary of the institution). 

Questions regarding applicability and interpretation should be directed to Reserve Bank’s 

conflicts staff.

Penalty for Violating Senior Examiner Restriction

If an individual violates the post-employment restriction as defined in Table 1, section 10(k) of 

the FDI Act requires the appropriate federal bank regulatory agency to seek an order of removal 
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and industry-wide employment prohibition for up to five years, a civil money penalty of up to 

$250,000, or both. In special circumstances, the Chair of the Board of Governors may waive the 

restriction for a senior examiner of the Federal Reserve by certifying in writing that granting the 

individual a waiver of the restriction would not affect the integrity of the Federal Reserve’s 

supervisory program.

Administrative Procedures for Implementing the Senior Examiner Restriction and 

Additional Guidelines for Work Paper Reviews

Reserve Banks shall adopt the following procedures to ensure proper implementation of the 

senior examiner restriction: 

Identification of senior examiners: Reserve Banks shall develop and maintain procedures for 

determining which individuals meet the senior examiner criteria. This procedure should include a 

mechanism for routine reevaluation of senior examiner assignments at least annually, to ensure 

the designation is being applied appropriately.Reserve Banks may consult with Board staff if 

questions arise as to whether an examiner would be considered a “senior examiner.”

Notification to senior examiners: Reserve Banks shall establish procedures to regularly review

the duties of officers and examiners at least annually, and promptly notify individuals in writing 

when a change in duties would cause an officer or examiner to be considered a senior examiner

or cease to be considered a senior examiner with respect to an institution or holding company for 

purposes of section 10(k) of the FDI Act. 

Officer and examiner responsibility: Officers and examiners are responsible for complying

with the restriction. Individuals should direct any questions they may have regarding the 

interpretation of the restriction to the Reserve Bank’s designated ethics officers. Questions 

regarding the implementation of the restrictions within the conflicts of interest program should

be directed to Reserve Bank conflicts of intereststaff.

Monitoring of senior examiner” assignments: Reserve Banks shall maintain electronic 

records of individuals covered by section 10(k) of the FDI Act. These records shall include: 

• the name of each “senior examiner;” 

• the name of the depository institution or depository institution holding company for 

which the examiner is considered a “senior examiner;” 

• the qualifying role of the individual; 

• the start and end dates of the individual’s assignment as a senior examiner for the 

depository institution or depository institution holding company; and

• if the senior examiner ends employment with the Reserve Bank, the last date of 

Reserve Bank employment, the reason for leaving, and if the reason for leaving is 

employment with a financial institution, the name of the organization with which the 

examiner has accepted employment, if available.
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Work Paper review10: If any individual, regardless of whether he or she is designated as a 

“senior examiner,” accepts employment with a depository institution or depository institution 

holding company that he or she examined in the twelve months prior to his or her departure from 

Federal Reserve employment, the Reserve Bank shall review the work papers related to his or 

her assignment supervising that institution. 

The work paper review should be performed within 60 days of the examiner’s departure or the 

date the Reserve Bank learned that the individual had accepted employment with a supervised 

institution should the Reserve Bank learn of this after the individual’s departure. 

The review should assess whether applicable examination procedures were followed for the 

examiner’s assignment on the examination, and consider whether the examiner compromised 

examination findings or supervisory proceedings to enhance the prospect of being employed by 

the relevant supervised institution (for example, an EIC who overruled or removed a proposed 

MRA or MRIA during the examination process without substantiation, or omitted important 

examination processes or elements of the examination scope). The work paper review should be 

conducted by staff independent from the respective examination. Reserve Banks should establish 

an internal process for reviewing the results of the work paper review and informing appropriate 

parties of the findings. 

Board Supervision and Regulation (S&R) staff, and DCCA staff in applicable situations, must be 

notified of the results of all work paper reviews conducted by the Reserve Banks. The Reserve 

Bank is responsible for accurately tracking and storing all materials associated with the work 

paper review. In addition, the Reserve Bank is responsible for maintaining processes and 

procedures for determining:

• Whether a work paper review is required;

• How and by whom the work paper review will be conducted;

• How and to whom the results of a work paper review will be communicated; and 

• Where and how the materials for a work paper review will be stored.

Disciplinary procedures: If a Reserve Bank becomes aware that a former senior examiner has 

violated section 10(k) of the FDI Act, the Reserve Bank shall promptly notify the Reserve 

Bank’s officer-in-charge of supervision, its ethics officer, and the Board’s designated agency 

ethics officer. 

Restrictions after a merger or buyout: If an individual has an active restriction for an 

institution that is part of a merger or buyout, then the Reserve Bank should consult its ethics 

officer to determine whether the restriction should remain active. If the parties are unable to 

reach a decision, the question can be referred to the Board. The Board’s S&R Division, or 

DCCA as applicable, and the Legal Division will work together to make a final determination in 

these circumstances. Each case will be handled individually and determined on its own merits.

10 Work paper review requirements apply to all examiners within the Federal Reserve System. This includes 

examiners in safety and soundness and consumer affairs. A work paper review should be conducted for all 

examiners leaving the system.
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Implementation

Reserve Banks are expected to implement this policy within 90 days from the date of this letter.

Questions regarding this supervisory letter may be submitted via the Board’s public website.11 

Michael S. Gibson

Director

Division of Supervision

and Regulation

Eric S. Belsky

Director

Division of Consumer and Community 

Affairs

Attachment

• Process Map for Implementing the Post-Employment Restriction on “Senior Examiners”

• Sample Form for Notice of Post-Employment Restriction

Supersedes: 

• SR letter 16-16/CA letter 16-7, “Special Post-Employment Restriction for Senior 

Examiners” 

11 See, http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/contactus/feedback.aspx. 
Attachment 1: Process Map for Implementing the Post-Employment Restriction for “Senior Examiners”

Examiner is leaving

the Federal 

Reserve for other 

employment.

Is the examiner 

currently a senior 

examinerfor 

purposes of 

section 10(k)? 

Post-employment restriction 

begins on the date thatthe 

individual leaves the Federal 

Reserve System. Restriction 

lasts for one year from the 

date of departure. 

Was the individual 

in a senior 

examiner role 

within the past 

year?

The individual is not 

subject to a postemployment 

restriction.

If the individual had a senior 

examiner assignment for over 

two months within the past 

year, the post-employment 

restriction is active as of the 

date the individual leaves the 

Federal Reserve Systemand 

lasts for one year. 

Yes

No

Yes

No

If the examiner is leaving 

for a depository 

institution or depository 

institution holding 

company, they have

examined in the last 12 

months, a workpaper 

review must be 

conducted (regardless of 

whether they are a 

senior examiner). 
SR letter - Attachment

Notice of Post-Employment Restriction

TO: __________________________________ DATE: ______________

You have been identified by this Federal Reserve Bank as a “senior examiner” as described by section 10(k)

of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act for the financial organization listed below.

Under the statute and the Board’s implementing rule (12 CFR 264a), an examiner who served as the “senior examiner” for a 

depository institution or depository institution holding company for two or more months during the examiner’s final twelve

months of employment with a Reserve Bank is prohibited from knowingly accepting compensation as an employee, officer,

director, or consultant from that institution or holding company, or from certain related entities.

For covered examiners, the restriction applies for one year after terminating employment with the Reserve Bank. If an

examiner violates the one-year restriction, the statute requires the appropriate federal bank regulatory agency to seek an order

of removal and industry-wide employment prohibition for up to five years, a civil money penalty of up to $250,000, or both.

Name of Institution: ________________________________________ is a (check one below):

 state member bank bank holding company foreign bank

 savings and loan holding company 

 financial market utility nonbank financial company

Use the following table to determine the applicable prohibition.

Senior Examiner Assignment CorrespondingProhibition

If, during two or more months of your last

twelve months of service, you served as the

senior supervisory officer (SSO), central

point of contact (CPC), deputy SSO/CPC,

enterprise risk officer, or supervisory team

Then, for one year after leaving, you may not knowingly accept

compensation as an officer, director, employee or consultant from: 

State member bank • The state member bank (including any subsidiary of the state member

bank), or

• Any company (including a bank holding company) that controls the state

member bank.

Bank holding company (BHC) or

savings and loan holding company

(SLHC)

• The BHC or SLHC, or

• Any depository institution controlled by the BHC or SLHC (including

any subsidiary of the depository institution).

Foreign bank • The foreign bank;

• Any U.S. branch or agency of the foreign bank; or

• Any U.S. depository institution controlled by the foreign bank (including

any subsidiary of the depository institution).

Financial market utility (FMU) • The FMU if it is a depository institution or a depository institution

holding company, or

• Any entity controlled by the FMU (including any subsidiary) if the FMU

is a depository institution or a depository institution holding company.

Nonbank financial company (NFC) that 

is designated by the Financial Stability 

Oversight Council (FSOC) for 

supervision by the Federal Reserve

• The NFC if it is a depository institution or a depository institution

holding company, or

• Any entity controlled by the NFC (including any subsidiary) if the NFC

is a depository institution or a depository institution holding company.

By signing below (either in paper or electronic PDF form), you acknowledge receipt of this letter and affirm that you have read 

the rule and understand your responsibilities under it. Please retain a copy for your records.

Signature: ______________________________________________ Date: ______________________________

Return completed signed form to: [designate appropriate Reserve Bank contact and phone]. Questions about this rule should be

directed to: [designate appropriate Reserve Bank contact and phone].