The Eighth District serves as a center for local, national and global economic research, and provides the following services: supervisory and regulatory services to state-member banks and bank holding companies; cash and coin-handling for the District and beyond; economic education; and community development resources.

Advised by the research division staff, President James Bullard contributes informed opinions about national and district conditions, and participates in FOMC decisions concerning monetary policy, including setting the federal funds rate.

The Banking Supervision and Regulation division, led by senior vice president Carl White,[4][5] is tasked with assessing the safety and soundness of financial institutions' assets and operations, the effectiveness of their risk management practices, and their compliance with laws and regulations governing activities and consumer protection.

The department also facilitates partnerships between lenders and their communities and seeks to generate economic development and affordable housing throughout the Eighth District.

The executives are all experts in community and economic development and represent nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, universities, local governments and foundations.

Community Development holds many events throughout the year, covering such topics as the impact and possible solutions to foreclosures and vacancies, neighborhood revitalization, rebuilding household balance sheets, and reaching the unbanked and underbanked.

The St. Louis Fed's research division maintains FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), a database of hundreds of thousands time series from national, international, private and public sources.

FRED and the other free online data services—ALFRED, CASSIDI and FRASER—are collectively, with other research sites, accessed several million times a year.

[citation needed] Former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad once served on the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he did early research on the American Divisia Monetary Aggregates.

In personal finance, the topics include earning income, taxes, budgeting, saving, banks and credit cards.

Another publication, In Plain English,[22] is a multimedia online course on the structure and functions of the Federal Reserve System.

As with all Federal Reserve banks, the St. Louis Fed established an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI)[25] in January 2011, as called for by the Dodd-Frank Act.