Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Banking Law Research Guide

This guide provides an introduction to notable resources for conducting research in the area of banking law.

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Primary Sources

Banks and financial institutions are regulated by both federal and state statutory law. This guide focuses on federal statutes.

Regulations

Title 12 of the CFR contains the regulations governing banks and banking. There are numerous regulatory agencies, including the FDIC, Federal Reserve, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversee the banking industry. The website of each agency includes links to their regulations. For example, Sections 200-232 of Title 12 govern the Federal Reserve and are often referred to by a letter, such as Regulation B. The Federal Reserve has a listing of each of these regulations with links to recent amendments and a compliance guide where available.

ProQuest Regulatory Insight will provide regulatory histories for public laws dealing with banking, such as Dodd-Frank.

Legislation

Title 12 of the U.S. Code consists of 49 chapters governing banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions in the United States. In October 2008, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Information on its implementation can be located on a Treasury Department's web site. A Congressional Research Service report provides preliminary analysis of the oversight provisions of the EESA.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed in July 2010. A complete legislative history of the act has been prepared by the Law Librarian's Society of DC. There is also a compiled legislative history available in the Taxation & Economic Reform in America Parts I & II, 1781-2010 library on HeinOnline. 

Tutorials

Running time: 4:02 minutes

Created/updated: June 2022
Last reviewed: August 2023

Running time: 6:49 minutes

Created/updated: March 2022
Last reviewed: January 2023