About the Examiner Education Office

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council was established pursuant to title X of Public Law 95-630, the Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978 (FIRA). The purpose of title X was to create an interagency body empowered to “prescribe uniform principles and standards for the federal examination of financial institutions…and make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of these financial institutions.” As a part of its mandate, the Council conducts training programs for federal and state examiners.

The goals of the training program are –

• to promote training efficiency by encouraging consistency of examiner education through joint sponsorship of interagency training;
• to develop, maintain and deliver timely, state-of- the-art interagency training;
• to serve as a clearinghouse of training opportunities offered by the member agencies; and
• to provide support to the initiatives of the Council and its task forces.

Since its inception in 1979, the Council has provided training for over 50,000 participants. All programs are offered under the auspices of the Task Force on Examiner Education, whose principal members are officers of the five Councilmember agencies who oversee examiner training. Programs are expressly designed to meet the needs of examiners.

The training office relies primarily on the private sector for instructors. Bankers, attorneys, accountants, and consultants bring the expertise of specialists to the classroom. This provides a source of instructors that supplement those found in agency commissioning training. Agency staffs provide lectures on regulatory topics.

The training office stands ready to provide “spot” seminars or conferences which are needed to prepare examiners for new regulatory initiatives. When new interagency regulatory announcements are made, the Council training office can respond quickly to the training need.

In 1999, the FFIEC developed a method of delivering training or information called the "FFIEC InfoBase." This technology makes it possible to produce CD-ROMs that are compatible with the computer systems in the member agencies, including examiners’ laptops. This provides the Council with the means to disseminate new interagency policies, procedures, and training to the examiners of the member agencies and to respond quickly, thus reducing the lag between policy announcements and examiners' receipt of additional information and training.

Beginning in 2002 and continued in 2003, the Examiner Education Office began providing a supplemental CD to all attendees as a valueadded tool to their training. The CD contains presenters’ materials, pertinent regulatory guidance, and other relevant industry issuances. Among other features, the CD includes a search function which facilitates finding specific information. An internet address: ffiecfeedback@fdic.gov has been set up to provide examiners an opportunity to respond to questionnaires and to provide a direct link for suggestions.

Also in 2002, FFIEC began a relationship with CSBS to provide an on-line distance learning Fraud Identification training course. In 2003, a Real Estate Appraisal Review on-line training course was added.

In 2004, the FFIEC EEO continued to coordinate revisions of the FFIEC Information Technology Examination Handbook, which can be found at: www.ffiec.gov.

Karen K. Smith
Manager of Examiner Education
May 3, 2004