Online Terms of Use and Privacy Notice
Introduction and Scope
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia provides this website as a convenience to its customers and the general public. By using this website or the information, materials, or other content available on or through it, you agree that such use is governed by the following terms, which include our privacy policy. We reserve the right to change these terms without notice.
Consent to Monitoring
We monitor access to this website and collect certain information regarding such access for statistical and security purposes. Use of this website constitutes consent to such monitoring. If our monitoring reveals possible evidence of criminal activity, we may provide such evidence to law enforcement officials.
Appropriate Use
The content provided on this website may be used for informational, educational, and research purposes only.
Some of the content on this website may be copyrighted. Permission to use such copyrighted material must be obtained from the owner and cannot be obtained from us.
We do not permit the use of our name in any advertising, as an endorsement for any product or service, or for any other commercial purpose.
Unauthorized attempts to upload or change any of the content on this website, to defeat or circumvent its security measures, or to use this website other than for its intended purposes are prohibited.
Links to External Web Sites
We may provide links to external websites as an additional resource for users. Other websites may also link to this one. All such external websites are not on servers that we maintain, nor are they under our control. External websites may contain content that is protected under copyright or other laws with restrictions on its use. We make no warranty, express or implied, regarding, nor do we assume any liability or responsibility for, any content that is available on or through any other website. Neither our inclusion of a link to an external website nor another website’s inclusion of a link to this website implies our sponsorship, endorsement, recommendation, or approval of such other website, the entity or organization managing it, any views expressed on it, or any products or services offered on or through it.
Disclaimer
We take reasonable measures to ensure the reliability and quality of the information, materials, and other content that we produce or make available on or through this website. We may, without notice and from time to time, revise the content available on this website; however, we make no commitment to do so. We assume no liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness, completeness, or timeliness of any content available on or through this website, nor do we represent that the use of such content will not infringe privately held rights. All content available on or through this website is provided on an “as is,” “as available” basis. We are not responsible for misprints, errors, omissions, or denial of service or access. By using this website, you assume the risk that its content may be inaccurate, incorrect, incomplete, out-of-date, unsatisfactory for your purposes, or infringing.
We assume no liability or responsibility for any loss, injury, or damage of any kind resulting in any manner from the content of this website, including any computer virus, malicious code, or system malfunction.
The views expressed in Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia publications and working papers are those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System. Any conclusions that you draw from the content available on or through this website, regardless of whether you received any assistance from us or our employees, are your own and are not to be attributed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Accessibility
We are committed to making every page on this website accessible to the widest possible audience, including people with visual disabilities using screen-reading software.
Trademarks
Logos created by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are our property and may not be used without permission. FedMail®, FedLine®, and Fedwire® are registered trademarks of the Federal Reserve Banks. Other product and company names mentioned on this site may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Applicable Law
This website site is controlled and operated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from its offices in the United States of America. By accessing this website, you agree that these terms will be construed and applied in accordance with United States law. If you use this site from a foreign location, you are responsible for compliance with any and all applicable local laws.
The following privacy policy governs this website and its use.
Collection of Personal Information
Except as otherwise stated in this policy, you may visit this website without providing any personal information. However, you may choose to provide us with personal information if, e.g., you subscribe to one of our publications, send us questions through email, answer a user survey, register for an event, apply for a job, or participate in one of our online activities. Any personal information you provide voluntarily through this website may be used to help us better tailor our website, publications, and services to our users’ needs.
This website makes limited use of permanent cookies. We use permanent cookies to track user traffic patterns or in connection with user research (such as to administer a user survey in which no one is invited to participate more than once); this will better enable us to provide you with easy-to-use, high-quality content. This kind of cookie does not record any other information about you, nor can it be used to gather or correlate information about your activities elsewhere on the World-Wide Web. You can disable your browser’s permanent cookies if you wish to prohibit the placing of the cookie.
Transient memory-resident cookies or temporary session cookies are used to maintain a user’s state of navigation during a browser session and expire from memory once the session is ended. We may from time to time use transient memory-resident cookies. In addition, sometimes a third-party vendor will use cookies on one of the websites it operates, hosts, or manages for us in order to administer an online registration process for a conference or workshop. Since a third-party vendor’s website is not operated by us, this privacy policy does not apply to the collection of personal information or any other information by that website.
This website collects and aggregates statistical information about users by performing analyses on the web server’s log files. We use this statistical information to determine, among other things:
- Our website’s most popular pages;
- The browsers and operating systems most often used by visitors;
- The websites and search engines that have referred visitors to our website; and
- The domains from which our users visit us.
Such analyses do not involve personal information. We do not correlate this data with personal information about you. This statistical information, in aggregate form, and without personally identifying you, may be shared with other Federal Reserve Banks or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
Use of Personal Information
Generally, any information collected through this website, whether individual or aggregate, is for Federal Reserve System use only. We do not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except when we have your permission or under the following circumstances:
- When we retain the services of other Federal Reserve Banks, outside agents, or third parties under contract with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Such personal information is only provided to, and is only used by, those parties in conjunction with the services they provide to us.
- When we are required to disclose personal information about you to government officials or otherwise as required by subpoenas, court orders, legal process, or other legal obligations and to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against claims. We will share and/or use information to investigate, prevent, or take action against illegal activities or suspected fraud.
If you participate in a user survey, your answers and personal information will be analyzed only in the aggregate. The survey may ask whether you are interested in participating in an on-site web usability test in the future. If interested, we will ask for your contact information.
If you provide us with your postal or email address, or telephone or fax number, this information will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it, such as to:
- Provide you with the publications or information you requested;
- Register you for a tour, conference, or other event;
- Clarify your request or registration;
- Correspond with you regarding your job application; or
- Provide you with related information.
When you fill out our online forms, the information will be delivered to a Federal Reserve Bank email address or database. Your online communications are not encrypted. We cannot guarantee the security of any information sent electronically, whether submitted by online form or email.
If you submit credit card information to register for an event online, that information is forwarded to a Verisign-verified merchant committed to providing customers with the highest level of transaction processing security.
If you register for an event online, we may hold on to your registration information for the purpose of contacting you in the future about similar events. If you do not want us to keep your registration information, you must tell us so.
Maintenance of Personal Information
The safeguarding of personal information is important to us. While we endeavor to maintain the security of personal information in our possession, we cannot guarantee such security. We are not responsible for the security of personal information or any other information provided by you while it is being transmitted to our website, through email, or otherwise. Nor are we responsible for what a third party does with any information provided by you.
If you have voluntarily submitted personal information to us and wish to review, update, correct, or delete it, please submit your request using this form. Please provide the name of the publication to which you subscribe and whether it is a print or electronic publication.
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
This website is not directed to children under the age of 13, nor do we knowingly collect, maintain, or use personal information obtained through this website about children under the age of 13. If a child whom we know to be under the age of 13 sends personal information to us online, we will only use that information to respond directly to the child, notify the parents, or seek parental consent.
Policy Changes
We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time without notice. If any change to this policy affects the way we use personal information, we will provide an avenue for you to opt out of such use. Otherwise, we will not provide you with notice of changes to this policy. You are responsible for reviewing this privacy policy from time to time for any such changes.
This privacy policy was last updated August 26, 2008
Contact Information
Questions or comments about this privacy policy, may be directed to our privacy team using this form.
General Reserve Bank Data Privacy Notice
Introduction and Scope
This data privacy notice provides a high-level overview of Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) activities that rely, or partially rely on collection and use of personal information. We seek to provide transparency into relevant Reserve Bank functions, the personal information involved, and general uses of such information.
While this notice covers general categories of activities and functions conducted across and within multiple Reserve Banks, each Reserve Bank is a separate legal entity responsible for its own privacy practices. As some of the functions that the Reserve Banks perform have been operationally consolidated into one or more Reserve Banks, each Reserve Bank is publishing a similar version of this notice regardless of whether a function is primarily performed at a particular Reserve Bank. Reserve Banks may also publish a separate privacy notice providing more specific information about that Reserve Bank’s data privacy practices.
When we use the term personal information in this notice, we mean personal information handled or retained by a Reserve Bank that is linked or linkable to an individual. This notice covers instances where personal information is received from sources other than the individuals to which the personal information relates. It also covers situations where individuals provide personal information for Reserve Bank security or law enforcement purposes.
This notice is not intended to cover situations
- that are generally covered by more specific notices posted at the point of collection, such as collecting personal information directly from members of the public on the web (e.g., signing up for newsletters);
- where the Reserve Banks collect or use personal information for routine internal functions, such as managing employees, administering benefit plans, and performing audits and accounting; or
- that involve operation of Reserve Bank websites (e.g., cookie policies).
Reserve Bank Functions That Use Personal Information
This notice describes the six core functions that the Reserve Banks perform involving personal information that are within the scope explained above. Regardless of functional area, the Reserve Banks DO NOT sell personal information. The Reserve Banks DO share personal information if required by law, or if such sharing is necessary to accomplish the listed functions and activities. This includes sharing between the Reserve Banks and with Reserve Bank vendors if such vendor requires the information to provide services to the Reserve Bank(s).
1. Supervision & Regulation
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) is a federal agency that is responsible for the supervision and regulation of certain types of financial institutions (defined in section 3 below) including bank holding companies, state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, savings and loan holding companies, foreign banks operating in the United States, and other entities. The Board has delegated certain supervision and regulation functions, including the examination of supervised entities and the processing of certain banking applications and notices, to Reserve Banks as agents of the Board.
In performing these delegated functions, the Reserve Banks receive personal information from financial institutions. For example, Reserve Banks review consumer loan data as part of an examination of a bank. Reserve Banks may also receive personal information from supervised institutions about their shareholders, directors, and executive officers in connection with applications submitted by institutions for approval. The Reserve Banks protect this personal information in accordance with the Board's data privacy policies. For more information about what personal information may be involved in supervisory activities, please see the Federal Reserve Board Privacy Program site.
2. Fiscal Agent Services to the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury)
The Reserve Banks act as fiscal agents to the U.S. Treasury to support its goals related to collecting, disbursing, borrowing, investing, and accounting for government funds.
In this capacity, the Reserve Banks collect, use, and share personal information for the exclusive purpose of providing such fiscal services. In carrying out these functions, the Reserve Banks follow the Treasury's Data Privacy Policy and other requirements. See the U.S. Treasury Privacy Policy and the list of privacy impact assessments published by the Treasury.
3. Financial Services
The Reserve Banks provide financial services to depository institutions such as banks, credit unions, and savings and loans associations (together, “financial institutions”). These services include acting as an intermediary between financial institutions for clearing checks, as well as settling Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments and electronically transferring funds.
The receipt and sharing of personal information are necessary aspects of the Reserve Banks' provision of financial services. As financial intermediaries, Reserve Banks come into possession of personal information such as names, addresses, and account numbers when they process payment transactions submitted by financial institutions. In some instances, a check or payment instruction might also include a social security number or other, more sensitive personal information. As financial intermediaries, the Reserve Banks receive such personal information from financial institutions and do not collect it directly from individuals. The Reserve Banks do not control the type or accuracy of personal information submitted by financial institutions. The Reserve Banks pass payment transaction information to the next financial institution in the payment chain either directly or through that financial institution's designated agent/vendor. Such information may also be used in connection with compliance activities, economic research, and for other operational purposes related to payments processing. For more information about these financial services, see Federal Reserve Bank Financial Services.
4. Lending
The Reserve Banks extend certain types of credit to financial institutions. This includes allowing short-term overdrafts on accounts (called daylight overdrafts) as well as other lending programs (called Discount Window advances).
Discount Window advances must be secured by collateral. The collateral pledged to a Reserve Bank may include consumer loans (e.g., mortgage loans or auto loans). While the loans generally remain in the custody of the financial institution borrowing from the Reserve Bank, the Reserve Banks require information about each of the loans pledged as collateral. The consumer-loan-level information obtained for collateral purposes include name, loan number, loan amount, and balance. If actual loan documentation is obtained for sampling or safekeeping purposes, it will include all the information contained therein, which may also include social security numbers, dates of birth, and account numbers. Personal information obtained for the lending functions is used only to support and facilitate these lending activities, and is shared only to the extent necessary to support these activities. Loan information may also be shared with other financial institutions, such as corporate credit unions and home loan banks, that similarly provide liquidity to depository institutions, to prevent double-pledging collateral. Please see www.frbdiscountwindow.org for more information about these activities.
5. Research & Monetary Policy
The Research and Monetary Policy functions conduct independent economic research for publication in leading academic journals and provide policy analysis in support of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy mission and general responsibility to promote the effective operation of the U.S. economy and, more generally, the public interest. Other departments in the Reserve Bank, such as Supervision and Regulation and Community Development, may conduct research in fulfilling their responsibilities and may collaborate with the Research and Monetary Policy functions. Overall, Federal Reserve research covers a wide range of topics to produce various forms of output available to the general public and other stakeholders.
Research and policy analysis can be data-intensive activities that involve analyzing detailed information. While some of this data include personal information, it is typically anonymized, or de-identified with strict prohibitions against re-identification. Some of this information is acquired from third-party data providers. The Reserve Banks may also acquire information using surveys they design alone or in partnership with other organizations. The safeguarding and responsible use of information for research is of the utmost importance to the Reserve Banks. Personally identifiable information collected or acquired by the Reserve Banks is subject to strict information security controls (based on the NIST framework) and other controls including restrictions on access, use, sharing, storage, and disposal of the information.
6. Law Enforcement
Each Reserve Bank has its own Federal Reserve law enforcement unit responsible for protecting its operations, facilities, and physical assets.
In order to protect the people and assets of the Reserve Banks, Law Enforcement collects some personal information from people who visit the Reserve Banks. Such visitors may be required to provide identifying information before being allowed access to Reserve Bank facilities. This information may include name and information on a government-issued ID. Some Reserve Banks also collect personal information to conduct background checks of vendors, contractors, and employees for the purpose of verifying identity and managing risk. Background checks, public records searches, and other information gathering may also be conducted for the purpose of assessing potential threats to the Federal Reserve System. These processes are conducted in accordance with applicable law, and could involve the sharing of personal information with vendors engaged to perform screening and/or with governmental agencies that conduct aspects of the screening.
Questions or Comments
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this notice or the Reserve Banks' general privacy practices, please use this form to submit them. We only use the personal information you provide to respond to your question, comment, or concern.
Questions or comments relating to Board-delegated and fiscal agent functions should be directed to the Board of Governors and the U.S. Treasury, respectively.
Changes to this Privacy Notice
The Reserve Banks may occasionally amend this Privacy Notice to reflect changes to Reserve Bank activities and user feedback and we reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Notice at any time.
Questions or comments relating to Board-delegated and fiscal agent functions should be directed to the Board of Governors and the U.S. Treasury, respectively.
Last Update: 1/23/2022