The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) is a US government agency that provides guidance and oversight to financial institutions on security and integrity of financial data. SHA-256 and other hash functions play a crucial role in helping financial institutions comply with FFIEC guidelines and regulations.

FFIEC guidelines that SHA-256 helps meet include:

1. Authentication and access control

2. Data encryption and decryption

3. Data integrity and authenticity

4. Secure data storage and transfer

5. Incident response and reporting

SHA-256 helps achieve these goals by:

1. Ensuring strong authentication and access control

2. Supporting secure data encryption and decryption

3. Providing data integrity and authenticity checks

4. Enabling secure data storage and transfer

5. Facilitating incident response and reporting

By using SHA-256 and other hash functions, financial institutions can demonstrate their commitment to securing and protecting financial data, and ensure compliance with FFIEC guidelines and regulations.

Some specific FFIEC guidelines that reference SHA-256 include:

- FFIEC Authentication Guidance (2011)

- FFIEC Retail Payment Systems Booklet (2018)

- FFIEC Information Security Booklet (2018)

- FFIEC Cybersecurity and Social Media Risk Management Booklet (2020)