Financial Research Fund

Program Summary by Budget Activity

Dollars in thousands

FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2012 TO FY 2013

 Enacted Enacted Request $ Change % Change

Office of Financial Research $11,338 $109,660 $138,220 $28,560 26.04%

Financial Stability Oversight Council $2,921 $8,250 $8,800 $550 6.67%

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 

Payments $0 $4,716 $10,725 $6,009 127.42%

Total Cost of Operations $14,259 $122,626 $157,745 $35,119 28.64%

Total FTE 19 179 312 133 42.6%

Summary

The Financial Research Fund funds the 

expenses of the Office of Financial Research 

(OFR) and the Financial Stability Oversight 

Council (Council) which includes certain 

implementation expenses that the Federal 

Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) incurs. 

The Council was established by the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act of 2010 (the Act) and is 

charged with identifying risks to the financial 

stability of the United States, promoting 

market discipline, and responding to emerging 

threats to the stability of the U.S. financial 

system. Over the next year, the Council will 

be: working to establish processes for the 

designation of nonbank financial companies; 

considering whether to designate financial 

market utilities as systemically important; and 

developing and implementing tools to monitor 

and mitigate emerging risks to the financial 

system. 

Under the Act, the Director of the OFR is 

appointed by the President and confirmed by 

the Senate. Prior to confirmation, Treasury, 

under the Secretary’s authority, is managing 

the OFR with all of the Director’s statutory 

authority. Over the next year, the OFR will 

expand its services to the Council and broader 

stakeholders while continuing to build its 

institutional infrastructure. Priorities include 

expanding the provision of data and analysis to 

the Council, including by strengthening 

coordination in data collection; continued 

work on data-related standards, including the 

adoption of a Legal Entity Identifier– a global 

standard to uniquely identify parties to 

financial transactions that will support better 

understanding of true exposures and 

interconnections among and across financial 

institutions; promoting public-private 

collaboration in research on threats to the 

financial stability; and publication of data and 

analysis to support strengthened public 

understanding of threats to financial stability.

Section 210(n)(10) of the Act provides that 

certain reasonable implementation expenses 

that the FDIC incurred after the date of 

enactment of the Act shall be treated as 

expenses of the Council. The FDIC must 

periodically submit requests for 

reimbursement of reasonable implementation 

expenses to the Chairperson of the Council, 

who shall arrange for prompt reimbursement 

to the FDIC. The expenses estimated are for 

rulewriting and resolution planning consistent 

with the FDIC's implementation of its 

responsibilities under Title II of the Act.

Explanation of Budget Activities

Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, the 

regulatory framework focused too narrowly on 

individual institutions and markets, which 
allowed supervisory gaps to grow and 

regulatory inconsistencies to emerge. The Act 

established the Council with a clear statutory 

mandate that created for the first time 

collective accountability for identifying and 

responding to emerging threats to financial 

stability. The Council is chaired by the 

Secretary of the Treasury and brings together 

the expertise of the federal financial 

regulators, an independent member with

insurance expertise appointed by the President, 

and state regulators.

The OFR was established by the Act to serve 

the Council, its member agencies, and the 

public by improving the quality, transparency, 

and accessibility of financial data and 

information, by conducting and sponsoring 

research related to financial stability, and by 

promoting best practices in risk management.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Payments are to reimburse the FDIC for 

certain reasonable implementation expenses

incurred after the date of enactment of the Act.

Office of Financial Research ($138,220,000 

from mandatory programs) 

The Act established the OFR within the 

Treasury Department to support the Council 

and its members by improving the quality of 

financial data available to policymakers and by 

facilitating more robust and sophisticated 

analysis of the financial system. The data and 

analysis provided by OFR will enhance the 

Council’s ability to identify and analyze 

threats to financial stability.

Financial Stability Oversight Council 

($8,800,000 from mandatory programs)

The Council has a clear statutory mandate to 

facilitate coordination among financial 

regulators and identify risks and respond to 

emerging threats to financial stability. The 

Council has ten voting members, including 

nine federal financial regulatory agencies and 

an independent member with insurance 

expertise, and five non-voting members. The 

Council is an executive agency of the Federal 

Government and is not a bureau or office of 

the Department of the Treasury.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 

Payments ($10,725,000 from mandatory 

programs)

Section 210(n)(10) of the Act provides that 

certain reasonable implementation expenses 

that FDIC incurred after the date of enactment 

of the Act shall be treated as expenses of the 

Council. The expenses estimated are for 

rulewriting and resolution planning consistent 

with the FDIC's implementation of its 

responsibilities under Title II of the Act.

Legislative Proposals

There are no current proposals for amending 

the authorizing legislation.

Description of Performance

Information on the Council is provided on 

www.treasury.gov, www.fsoc.gov, and 

member agency websites. Transparency on the 

Council’s decisions will be provided through 

an annual report to Congress and the public 

and testimony by the Chairperson on the 

Council’s activities and emerging threats to 

financial stability. Transparency on the OFR 

will be provided through an annual report to 

Congress, as well as testimony on the activities 

of the office and threats to financial stability. 

An OFR report to Congress on human 

resources planning is also provided annually 

for the office’s initial five years. Information 

on OFR is available at www.treasury.gov/ofr. 

The OFR, as an office of the Department of 

the Treasury, will complete an initial strategic 

plan and establish preliminary performance 

measures during FY 2012.