The Federal Reserve is enacting a 30% staff reduction in its division focused on banking supervision.
The job cuts were detailed in an internal memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal – the Federal Reserve has not made any public statement on its layoffs, which would shrink the central bank’s supervision and regulation division to 350 people, down from a previously authorized level of 500. The reduction is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Vice Chairwoman Michelle Bowman, who was appointed by President Trump, authored the memo, adding this will allow the division to operate with fewer management layers. In addition, Bowman said the division’s operations unit will be renamed the “business enablement group” and a new position focused on industry engagement will be created.
The division will extend voluntary deferred resignation offers to speed the staff reduction. Bowman stated, “The goal is to accomplish this reduction as much as possible through natural attrition, retirements, and by offering a voluntary separation incentive to all S&R division employees, with details to come in the following weeks.”
This announcement follows an action by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell who said in May that the central bank would aim for a 10% staff reduction across the full institution.
