Supervision

Supervisory Research Forum

The Supervisory Research Forum (SURF) is a virtual community of expertise for regulators, policymakers, and subject-matter specialists in retail credit and the supervision and regulation of banking institutions. We seek to build the body of relevant knowledge, connect professionals working in this area, and elevate the sector dialogue. To this end, we aggregate knowledge, sponsor workshops, and author a newsletter that combines expert insight with notifications about policy developments and new research in the field.

SURF is an initiative of the Supervision, Regulation, and Credit Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

SURF Spotlight

This quarter's SURF Spotlight: Summary of the Fourth Workshop on Payments, Lending, and Innovations in Consumer Finance - Q1 2023

Past Spotlights:

CECL Implementation and Model Risk During the Pandemic - Q3 2022
The Life-Cycle Impacts of Federal Student Loans: A Brief Literature Review - Q2 2022
Credit Card Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Q1 2022
Recap from the Fourth Biennial Conference on Auto Lending - Q4 2021
Auto Loan Origination Trends During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Q3 2021
Climate Change and Consumer Finance - Q2 2021
An Initial Attempt to Evaluate the Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Consumers - Q1 2021
Summary of the Recent Workshop on Credit Card Lending and Payments - Q4 2020
Are Fintech Firms Reaching Out to Underserved Consumers? - Q3 2020
How Mortgage Losses Became the Primary Catalyst for the Financial Crisis - Q1 2020
Conference Summary — Stress Testing: A Discussion and Review - Q3 2019
The Third Biennial Conference on Auto Lending - Q2 2019
Collateral Valuation and Mortgage Default Risk - Q1 2019
Interventions That Improve Consumer Credit Outcomes - Q4 2018
Modeling Loss Given Default - Q3 2018
Minimum Wages and Consumer Credit: Impacts on Access to Credit and Traditional and High Cost Borrowing - Q2 2018
Another Look at Mortgage Default - Q1 2018

Why SURF? Why Now?

Laws, policies, and practices that impact the supervision and regulation of mortgage, consumer, and small-business lending have changed dramatically in recent years, and more changes are to come. As a result, policymakers and regulators are facing a challenging landscape. What changes are on the horizon? Are household balance sheets and financial behavior evolving in ways that will generate new risks for lenders? What regulatory policies are needed to leverage alternative data in assessing consumer credit risk? SURF seeks to foster professional dialogue and promote data-based insights to better understand the current and emerging issues in the supervision and regulation of financial institutions as it relates to retail credit.