’ s total assets declined about $ 310 billion since the middle of last year and currently stand at close to $ 4. 0 trillion. relative to their peak level in 2014, banks ’ reserve balances with the federal reserve have declined by around $ 1. 2 trillion, a drop of more than 40 percent. in light of the substantial progress we have made in reducing reserves, and after extensive deliberations, the committee decided at our january meeting to continue over the longer run to implement policy with our current operating procedure. that is, we will continue to use our administered rates to control the policy rate, with an ample supply of reserves so that active management of reserves is not required. having made this decision, the committee can now evaluate the appropriate timing and approach for the end of balance sheet runoff. i would note that we are prepared to adjust any of the details for completing balance sheet normalization in light of economic and financial developments. in the longer run, the size of the balance sheet will be determined by the demand for federal reserve liabilities such as currency and bank reserves. the february monetary policy report describes these liabilities and reviews the factors that influence their size over the longer run. i will conclude by mentioning some further progress we have made in improving transparency. late last year we launched two new publications : the first, financial stability report, shares our assessment of the resilience of the u. s. financial system, and the second, supervision and regulation report, provides information about our activities as a bank supervisor and regulator. last month we began conducting press conferences after every fomc meeting instead of every other one. the change will allow me to more fully and more frequently explain the committee ’ s thinking. last november we announced a plan to conduct a comprehensive review of the strategies, tools, and communications practices we use to pursue our congressionally assigned goals for monetary policy. this review will include outreach to a broad range of stakeholders across the country. the february monetary policy report provides further discussion of these initiatives. thank you. i am happy to respond to questions. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

defensive " sars in an effort to avoid any criticism of their judgment about whether some activity is illegal or suspicious, and to avoid sanctions for failing to file particular sars. the treasury department's financial crimes enforcement network ( fincen ) has reported that these defensive filings threaten to clutter the sar database with information that cannot be properly analyzed due to the volume. bank regulators and fincen recognize that no process for fraud or money laundering detection and control can reasonably be expected to perfectly detect every transaction. but, financial institutions are expected to have a sound anti - money - laundering compliance program. this must include well - defined processes to identify suspicious activities, and those processes should be tailored to the risk and complexity of each business line. banks should provide sufficient training to line staff, compliance officers, internal auditors, and legal staff to keep employees on the alert for suspicious activities. further, when questionable activity is detected, the bank must respond promptly and effectively, and work with appropriate law enforcement authorities and bank regulators. i am sure that you are aware by now of the interagency efforts to develop and issue new, enhanced bank secrecy act examination guidelines and procedures within the next few months. the federal reserve and the other federal banking supervisors, with the active participation of fincen, are drafting these more - detailed uniform examination guidelines and procedures. we are reaching out to the industry during this stage of the project. once the procedures are completed, we will work hard to educate our examination forces and the industry about the guidelines and procedures. these efforts are intended to better ensure consistency in the bank secrecy act and anti - money - laundering supervision programs of the bank regulators and fincen - the entity within the u. s. treasury that is statutorily responsible for the implementing the bank secrecy act. in addition, the federal reserve and the other federal bank supervisory agencies recently signed a memorandum of understanding with fincen to share critical information about banking organizations'compliance with the bank secrecy act. by providing pertinent bank secrecy act information to fincen, which is adding additional staff to fulfill its responsibilities, the federal reserve and the other regulators can now better coordinate their supervision and enforcement efforts, thus further reducing the potential for unwarranted compliance burdens. fincen is also committed to providing both bankers and regulators information about emerging money - laundering schemes and guidance for continually improving bank secrecy act compliance. the federal reserve is also working with senior justice and treasury officials to ensure they understand the efforts of banks and the regulators