From: Patrick Brown, First Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

To: Sixth District Financial Institutions

With another hurricane season approaching, we at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta want to reaffirm we are making every effort to be as prepared as possible to maintain vital financial services regardless of weather conditions or other crisis situations. Along those lines, the Federal Reserve also wants to help you prepare by sending the enclosed contingency information. It is our intent to minimize as much as possible any impact from a crisis on Fed functions, like bank supervision and discount window lending, or on services, like cash, check, and automated clearing house (ACH) processing.

One of the most critical components during a crisis is to have the ability to communicate. The Atlanta Fed’s Web site, which includes the information in this packet, will also serve as the primary location for all Atlanta Fed storm-related information, including details on payment services (check, cash, and ACH), discount window, bank supervision and other vital information. You will be able to link to this information from the home page of our site (www.frbatlanta.org) during an emergency situation. In the event of a hurricane, you can also use the contact information found in the enclosed packet to get in touch with the Atlanta Fed. If you have questions or need additional information in advance of a storm, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the appropriate contact here at the Atlanta Fed.

In addition to the phone numbers and Web addresses included in this packet, I want to encourage you to take advantage of FRENSi (Federal Reserve Emergency Notification Services/Internet system), and enroll, if you haven’t already done so. FRENSi is an Atlanta Fed Web application that allows you to provide and update your contingency contact information and enables us to use this information for pushing messages to you when contingencies arise. Registration is quick, easy, and can be of great benefit if your operations ever go into contingency mode. If you have questions about FRENSi or have difficulty registering, contact us at 404-498-8870.

Thanks for all of your efforts to help ensure that financial services are available to the public, even in emergency circumstances.