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BOARD OF GOVERNORS

OF THE

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20551

DIVISION OF BANKING

SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

DIVISION OF CONSUMER AND 

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

SR 15-10 

CA 15-8 

October 13, 2015 

TO: OFFICERS IN CHARGE OF SUPERVISION AT EACH FEDERAL RESERVE BANK AND 

TO INSTITUTIONS SUPERVISED BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE 

SUBJECT: Expansion of the Federal Reserve’s Emergency Communications System 

Applicability: This letter applies to all institutions supervised by the Federal Reserve, including 

those with $10 billion or less in consolidated assets. 

The Federal Reserve is issuing this letter to announce an expansion of its Emergency 

Communications System (ECS), a service which maintains a database of emergency contacts, to 

include contact information of employees at Federal Reserve-supervised financial institutions 

who are capable of receiving and acting upon cyber emergencies (referred to as “designated 

cyber emergency contacts”). The Federal Reserve has previously issued guidance to highlight 

the supervisory practices that the Federal Reserve can employ when financial institutions and 

their borrowers and other customers are affected by a major disaster or emergency.1

 In response 

to heightened efforts by cyber criminals to penetrate financial institutions, the Federal Reserve

has decided to enhance its communications capabilities by expanding the ECS database of 

emergency contact information, which is currently maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of 

St. Louis. In the coming weeks, ECS staff will be working with representatives from each 

Reserve Bank to contact supervised financial institutions to identify and register designated 

cyber emergency contact(s).

Emergency Communications System (ECS) Function

In 2008, the Federal Reserve developed the ECS to maintain business contact information

that could be used by the Federal Reserve to communicate with supervised institutions during a 

natural disaster or an operational outage emergency. By developing and maintaining the

database of emergency contacts, ECS staff have facilitated communications between supervised 

institutions and federal and state regulators during emergencies such as ice storms, floods, 

hurricanes, blizzards, and a dam breach. When combined with standard communication tools, 

such as email, ZixMail (for secure communications), or telephone, the ECS enables the Federal 

1 Refer to SR letter 13-6/CA letter 13-3, “Supervisory Practices Regarding Banking Organizations and their 

Borrowers and Other Customers Affected by a Major Disaster or Emergency.”
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Reserve to establish and maintain communications with supervised institutions during natural 

disasters, infrastructure outages, or cyber emergencies. 

In response to a local or regional event, Reserve Banks may use the ECS to contact 

supervised institutions in their districts. The authority to issue a nationwide emergency message 

resides with the Directors in the Board’s Divisions of Banking Supervision and Regulation and 

Consumer and Community Affairs.

ECS Registration Process

Each Reserve Bank should designate a primary contact (referred to as the “Reserve Bank 

ECS contact”) who will work with ECS staff to obtain the cyber emergency contact data for the 

district’s supervised institutions. ECS staff will work with the Reserve Bank ECS contacts to

notify supervised financial institutions and begin the registration of an institution’s designated 

cyber emergency contact(s).2 The registration process requires each designated emergency 

contact to create a secure user identification and password and provide his or her name and 

business email, address, and telephone number. 

Testing and Validation of An Institution’s Designated Cyber Emergency Contact

ECS staff conducts periodic testing to ensure the validity of contact information stored 

with ECS. The routine testing of ECS includes verification of a contact’s business phone 

number(s) and email address and confirmation of the delivery of test messages to resolve any 

delivery issues.

Reserve Bank Coordination 

ECS will be operated by staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Federal Reserve 

Banks will be working with the ECS staff to obtain the necessary cyber emergency contact 

information for supervised institutions in their respective Districts. 

All questions concerning registration and operational matters should be directed to the 

ECS Support Line at ecs.support@stls.frb.org or 1-877-327-5333. In addition, institutions may 

send questions via the Board’s public website.3

Michael S. Gibson

Director

Division of Banking Supervision 

and Regulation

Eric S. Belsky

Director

Division of Consumer 

and Community Affairs

Cross references to: 

• SR letter 13-6/CA letter 13-3, “Supervisory Practices Regarding Banking Organizations

and their Borrowers and Other Customers Affected by a Major Disaster or Emergency”

2 Board BS&R staff and ECS staff will develop internal guidelines to assist Reserve Banks in implementing the ECS 

registration process and messaging system.

3 See: http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/contactus/feedback.aspx.