Office of Financial Research
The Office of Financial Research is an independent bureau reporting to the United States Department of the Treasury. It was established by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, whose passage in 2010 was a legislative response to the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. The OFR is tasked with collecting and standardizing data, performing applied research and essential long-term research; and developing risk measurement and monitoring tools. The OFR is also responsible for providing support to the Financial Stability Oversight Council.
Director
The director of the Office of Financial Research is appointed for a six-year term. Under the Trump presidency, the agency became less independent when the director was made subordinate to the secretary of the Treasury. The director, in consultation with the chairman of the FSOC proposes the OFR annual budget. The director may set salaries of the office's employees “without regard to or of Title 5 of the United States Code, relating to classification of positions and General Schedule pay rates”.Authority
The director has subpoena power and may require from any financial institution any data needed to carry out the functions of the office. However, this power has not been used or tested.Responsibilities
The Dodd-Frank Act charged the Office of Financial Research with supporting the Financial Stability Oversight Council and member agencies by:- Collecting data on behalf of the council, and providing such data to the council and member agencies;
- Standardizing the types and formats of data reported and collected;
- Performing applied research and essential long-term research;
- Developing tools for risk measurement and monitoring;
- Performing other related services;
- Making the results of its activities available to financial regulatory agencies; and
- Assisting FSOC member agencies in determining the types and formats of data authorized by the act to be collected by the member agencies.
Resources
By fiscal 2016, the bureau had 225 employees and a budget of $99 million from fees paid by banks. In 2018, the OFR went through a substantial reduction in its workforce. President Trump claimed he was saving tax payers' money even though the funding came from fees. At the end of 2018, the OFR had slightly over 100 employees.
Workforce development
The Office has broad latitude in performing support services for both the Council and other Member Agencies, including data collection, applied research and essential long-term research, and developing tools for monitoring risk. The Office can also issue guidelines to standardizing the way data is reported, constituent agencies have three years to implement data standardization guidelines. In many ways, the Office of Financial Research is to be operated without the constraints of the Civil Service system. For example, it does not need to follow federal pay scale guidelines, and it is mandated that the office have:- Training and Workforce Development Plan that includes training, leadership development and succession planning
- Workplace Flexibility Plan that includes telework, flexible work schedules, job sharing, parental leave benefits and childcare assistance, domestic partner benefits
- Recruitment and Retention Plan
Temporary management reporting
- Training And Workforce Development Plan – that includes:
- * Identification of skill and technical expertise needs and action taken to meet the requirements
- * Steps taken to foster innovation and creativity
- * Leadership development and succession Planning
- * Effective use of technology by employees
- Workplace Flexibility Plan – that includes:
- * Telework
- * Flexible work schedules
- * Phased retirement
- * Reemployment annuitants
- * Parental leave benefits and childcare assistance
- * Domestic partner benefits
- * Other workplace flexibilities
- Recruitment and Retention Plan – that includes:
- * The steps necessary to target highly qualified applicant pools with diverse backgrounds
- * Streamlined employment application process
- * Timely notification of employment applications
- * Measures of hiring effectiveness
Sections
Data and Research & Analysis Centers
The Office is supported by two entities:- The Data Center, which collects, validates and maintains the data required to support the council; which may be obtained from commercial data providers, publicly available data sources and the financial entities supervised by state and federal agencies; and
- The Research and Analysis Center, which conducts independent analysis of available information to identify financially destabilizing effects, and develops and maintains independent analytical capabilities and computing resources to:
- * Develop and maintain metrics and reporting systems for risks to the financial stability of the United States
- * Monitor, investigate, and report on changes in systemwide risk levels and patterns to the Council and Congress
- * Conduct, coordinate, and sponsor research to support and improve regulation of financial entities and markets
- * Evaluate and report on stress tests or other stability-related evaluations of financial entities overseen by the member agencies
- * Maintain expertise in such areas as may be necessary to support specific requests for advice and assistance from financial regulators
- * Investigate disruptions and failures in the financial markets, report findings, and make recommendations to the Council based on those findings;
- * Conduct studies and provide advice on the impact of policies related to systemic risk; and
- * Promote best practices for financial risk management.
Reporting
List of directors of the Office of Financial Research
| No. | Name | Took office | Left office |
| 1 | Richard Berner | January 2, 2013 | December 31, 2017 |
| 2 | Dino Falaschetti | June 27, 2019 | February 28, 2022 |
| - | James Martin | February 28, 2022 |