Management of Financial Resources
Beginning in 2003, the Corporation separated its investment expenses from its
annual operating budget in order to ensure a more rigorous approach to the
approval and management of major investment initiatives. The single most
significant current initiative is the construction of additional FDIC office
and multipurpose buildings adjacent to the existing facilities at Virginia
Square. This project will eliminate the need for the Corporation to lease
commercial space in downtown Washington, DC, and will substantially reduce
future facility costs. Management processes have been implemented to ensure
adherence to the project budget and schedule. Once completed and occupied,
the new building will provide estimated cost savings of approximately $78
million (net present value) over 20 years, when compared to the projected
costs associated with the current headquarters leasing arrangements. Construction
has progressed on schedule and under budget. Occupancy began in mid-January
2006 and should be completed prior to the end of the first quarter 2006,
as targeted.
Human Capital Management
The
FDIC's employees are its most important resource for accomplishing
its mission. For that reason, it seeks to continue to be the employer of choice
within the financial regulatory community and to operate a human resources
program that attracts, develops, evaluates, rewards and retains a high-quality
results-oriented workforce. This has been a difficult challenge over the past
13 years because the Corporation has been in a continuous downsizing mode as
it completed the residual workload from the banking and thrift crises of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Although the pace of downsizing has slowed in the past few years, the Corporation
continues to adjust both the size and composition of its workforce to meet
the changing course of the financial services industry. In 2005, the FDIC implemented
a number of strategies identified in the human capital plan developed in 2004
to procure the skill sets needed in this new environment.
Significant
Information Technology Initiatives
On
May 2, 2005, the FDIC implemented the New Financial Environment (NFE) and its
supporting systems. The implementation was the culmination of years of
effort by the FDIC to modernize its aging, highly-customized and complex financial
systems environment. NFE is a corporate-wide effort focused on implementing
an enterprise-wide, integrated software solution to support the current and
future financial needs of the FDIC. The NFE also enhances the capability of
other significant development efforts such as the Corporate Human Resources
Information System Time & Attendance System, and the Legal Integrated Management
System and also makes available more robust cost information that provides
a basis of improved decision making.
The FDIC continues to collect quality and timely information in 2005 with
the use of FDICconnect. FDICconnect is a secure Web site that facilitates electronic
communication with FDIC-insured institutions, and became the primary method
of delivery for the quarterly deposit insurance assessment invoices through
a rule change effective with the March 2005 assessment cycle. In 2005, over
150,000 transactions were completed by financial institutions using FDICconnect.
Transformation of the Information Technology Program
In 2005, the FDIC completed critical steps toward transforming
its information technology program – an initiative begun in 2004. Using
a roadmap developed with Deloitte Touche over 18 months ago, the FDIC implemented
an outsourcing strategy, employee buyout and divisional reorganization that will
significantly improve the program’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Once completed, the FDIC anticipate benefits of the transformation will include:
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The greater use of contracting partners for operation and implementation allowing
in-house staff to focus on strategic business planning, design and consultation.
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Reduced costs through improving the efficiency and effectiveness of IT products
and services.
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A targeted long-term plan for personal and technical development of all IT
employees resulting from a new skills assessment to be conducted during 2006.
Privacy Program
In 2005, the
charter of the Chief Information Officer's Council was
expanded to include oversight of Privacy Act responsibilities, and the corporate
Privacy Program was enhanced under the guidance of the newly appointed Chief
Privacy Officer (CPO). The program's objective is to ensure that the
FDIC is taking appropriate steps to protect personally identifiable information
from unauthorized use, access, disclosure or sharing, and to protect associated
information systems from unauthorized access, modification, disruption or destruction.
One of the first priorities is in the area of employee awareness. The program
requires mandatory privacy training so that all FDIC employees and contractors
are aware of the requirements for safeguarding sensitive information and know
where to obtain privacy-related reference material. Many initiatives were completed
in 2005 in support of the newly enhanced Corporate Privacy Program, including
mandatory computer-based privacy training and distribution of a Privacy Awareness
Package.
