Directory > United%20States > Govt. Agencies

The SEC is an independent, nonpartisan, quasijudicial regulatory agency with responsibility for administering the federal securities laws. The purpose of these laws is to protect investors in securities markets that operate fairly and to ensure that investors have access to disclosure of all material information concerning publicly traded securities. The Commission also regulates firms engaged in the purchase or sale of securities, people who provide investment advice, and investment companies.

The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. It was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system; over the years, its role in banking and the economy has expanded. Today, the Federal Reserve supervises and regulates banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation's banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission regulates interstate trade and has began overseeing internet commerce practices. The FTC has a special email address to receive complaints of spam mail (uce@ftc.gov) and also investigates online scams.

In 1965 the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act created HUD as a Cabinet Department. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the Federal agency responsible for national policy and programs that address America's housing needs, that improve and develop the Nation's communities, and enforce fair housing laws.

GAO strives to be a model organization - one that is client and customer driven. In that spirit, GAO participates in an online customer satisfaction survey using the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The survey randomly selects a small proportion of visitors to our site and asks them a series of questions about their online experience.

As the nationís largest statistical agency, our website provides a vital national resource. These pages contain a wealth of statistical information about the nationís people and its economy ó information that is used by the general public and researchers, as well as federal, state, and local governments, in making important decisions.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics

The collective Senate membership of nearly 1,900 men and women is documented in the recently published Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005. Continuing a nearly 150-year tradition, the 2,218-page volume is the 16th in a series of similar reference works.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift institutions for up to $100,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy and the financial system when a bank or thrift institution fails.

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is the primary regulator of all federally chartered and many state-chartered thrift institutions, which include savings banks and savings and loan associations. OTS was established as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury on August 9, 1989, and has four regional offices located in Jersey City, Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco.

The Council is a formal interagency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and to make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of financial institutions.

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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was created by Congress in 1974 as an independent agency with the mandate to regulate commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The agency protects market participants against manipulation, abusive trade practices and fraud. Through effective oversight and regulation, the CFTC enables the markets to serve better their important functions in the nation's economy--providing a mechanism for price discovery and a means of offsetting price risk