Speech At the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C. (via webcast)
Speech At the National Association for Business Economics Virtual 37th Annual Economic Policy Conference, Washington, D.C. (via webcast)
Speech At "Transform Tomorrow Today" Ceres 2021 Conference, Boston, Massachusetts (via webcast)
Speech At the Economic Club of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (via webcast)
Speech At "The SOFR Symposium: The Final Year," an event hosted by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, New York, New York (via webcast)
Speech At "Pushing the Frontiers of Payments: Towards Faster, Cheaper, More Transparent and More Inclusive Cross Border Payments," a conference hosted by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, Basel, Switzerland (via prerecorded video)
Speech At the C. Peter McColough Series on International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York (via webcast)
Speech At the 2021 Annual Washington Conference, Institute of International Bankers (via webcast)
Speech At the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia (via webcast)
WASHINGTON – The FINRA Board of Governors has appointed Deborah Bailey and Kathryn Ruemmler as new Governors. Bailey will serve as a public member, and Ruemmler as an industry member.
Washington, D.C. – FINRA today published the 2021 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program to inform member firms’ compliance programs by providing annual insights from FINRA’s Examinations and Risk Monitoring programs.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— In a year when a pandemic gripped the world, beginning and experienced retail investors flocked to the stock market using taxable, non-retirement investment accounts, according to new research by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation) and NORC at the University of Chicago.
WASHINGTON—FINRA mourns the loss of former NASD Chairman and CEO Robert Glauber, a tireless advocate for the interests of investors and sound financial regulation throughout his distinguished career in the private, public and academic sectors.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly four in 10 households lacked financial resilience, making them vulnerable to financial hardships, including those associated with the current pandemic or future financial crises, according to a report from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. Meanwhile, fewer than two in 10 households appeared to be financially resilient.
WASHINGTON—AARP, the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation) and Heart+Mind Strategies today released Addressing the Challenge of Chronic Fraud Victimization, a study that identifies evidence-based ways to help repeat victims of financial fraud and their families.
WASHINGTON – FINRA’s Board of Governors met on March 3 and 4 for the first time in 2021. During the meeting, the Board approved one rulemaking item and discussed a variety of topics, including the evolution of FINRA's Member Supervision Department, which recently published the 2021 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program.
WASHINGTON—FINRA announced today that it has promoted Stephanie Dumont, formerly Senior Vice President and Director of Capital Markets Policy for FINRA's Office of General Counsel, to the role of Executive Vice President and Head of Market Regulation and Transparency Services, effective immediately. Dumont will report to President and CEO Robert W. Cook and join FINRA’s Management Committee.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— While the economic fallout caused by COVID-19 has led to a significant rise in tips, complaints and referrals involving investment scams, new research from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation) and the Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) provides evidence that repeated exposure to concise, online educational interventions can reduce susceptibility to investment fraud among U.S. adults.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The harmful consequences of Americans’ prolonged social isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic may be even greater for lonely older adults with low cognition. These individuals are at high risk for poor financial and healthcare decision making, according to new research from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of approximately $2.5 million to a whistleblower whose information and ongoing assistance to the staff significantly contributed to the success of an SEC enforcement action.
“The…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower, is planning to leave the agency this month.
Ms. Norberg has been with the Office since near its inception in 2012, serving as its…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief in an emergency enforcement action against Los Angeles-based actor Zachary Horwitz and his company, 1inMM (one in a million) Capital, LLC…
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to take two actions to continue to advance implementation of security-based swap regulation under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Commission is publishing…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the institution of administrative proceedings against a Texas-based CPA for allegedly failing to register his firm with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and alleged wholesale…
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) is embracing National Financial Capability Month as an opportunity to encourage all investors, especially first-timers or those relatively new to investing, to take…
The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $500,000 to a whistleblower who raised concerns internally before submitting a tip to the Commission. The whistleblower's information and assistance allowed the Commission and another agency…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted interim final amendments to implement congressionally mandated submission and disclosure requirements of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCA Act).
The interim final amendments will…
The SEC today launched a new page on its website to bring together agency actions and the latest information about climate and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. In response to increased investor demand for this information, the page…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged James Roland Jones of Redondo Beach, California, with perpetrating a fraudulent scheme to sell what he called “insider tips” on the dark web. The dark web allows users to access the internet…
Federal Reserve announces approval of application by VeraBank, Inc.
Agencies issue statement and request for information on Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering compliance
Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement actions with former employee of Farmers Bank and the Missouri Bank
Federal Reserve announces final rule making technical, clarifying changes to the Federal Open Market Committee’s rules describing its Freedom of Information Act procedures
Federal Reserve Board invites public comment on a proposal to automate non-merger-related adjustments to member banks’ subscriptions to Federal Reserve Bank capital stock
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, March 16-17, 2021
Federal Reserve Board publishes frequently asked questions (FAQs) comprising existing legal interpretations related to a number of the Board’s longstanding regulations
Federal Reserve Board adopts final rule outlining and confirming the use of supervisory guidance for regulated institutions
Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement action with institution-affiliated parties of Farmers State Bank
Agencies seek wide range of views on financial institutions' use of artificial intelligence
The Bureau's human capital processes are the means to develop a talented, diverse, inclusive, and engaged workforce to support the agency's mission. We assessed the Bureau's compliance with its policies and procedures related to selected types of hiring, promotions, and other internal placements and identified any potential effects of those hiring practices on its workforce diversity.
The Bureau can strengthen its hiring processes and reduce risks associated with assessing applicants, documenting hiring actions, tracking hiring actions, and reporting excepted service positions. In addition, the Bureau's racial and ethnic diversity has increased as a percentage of its overall workforce in recent years, and we identified several practices that may help the agency continue to increase its workforce diversity.
This report contains recommendations.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced sweeping criminal enforcement actions related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including prosecutions against defendants accused of trying to steal funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, and Unemployment Insurance program. In the last month, the Southern District of Florida has charged 18 federal criminal cases alleging COVID-19/CARES Act–related financial fraud. Read the full news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Wayne Rosen, assistant special agent in charge of the Miami field office for the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, made the following statement:
"To help struggling people and businesses suffering from the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act was enacted to provide emergency financial assistance. The Federal Reserve also used its emergency lending authority to support the economy. Unfortunately, bad actors have targeted this assistance to commit fraud for their personal gain at the expense of those truly in need.
"Today's announcement is the culmination of hard work by numerous agencies. It sends a clear message—federal law enforcement is watching, and will relentlessly pursue fraudsters and bring them to justice.
"We are proud to work with our law enforcement partners in this endeavor. Our office is fully committed to bringing to justice wrongdoers who exploit and defraud the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I want to commend and thank our agents, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, and our federal law enforcement partners for their efforts and dedication in the pursuit of justice."
The Board performs the accounting function for the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, and we contracted with an independent public accounting firm to audit the FFIEC's financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, and to report on internal control over financial reporting and compliance and other matters. We reviewed and monitored the work of the firm to ensure compliance with applicable auditing standards and the contract.
In the firm's opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.
We contracted with an independent public accounting firm to audit the financial statements of the Board as of and for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, and to audit the Board's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. We reviewed and monitored the work of the firm to ensure compliance with applicable auditing standards and the contract.
In the firm's opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Board as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the Board maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020.
Greenbelt, Maryland – Venkatesh Rao, age 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty on March 18, 2021, to theft of government property from his former employer, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board or FRB).
The Board is planning and managing major renovations of all four buildings it owns. Its total renovation budget, as of June 2020, was $2.1 billion. We assessed the Board's process for planning and managing multiple renovation projects as well as procuring services under various renovation-related contracts.
The Board can improve its planning and managing of ongoing renovation projects as well as future large, complex, multidivision initiatives by
The Board complied with its policies and procedures for conducting market research and awarding competitive contracts to bidders, which also aligned with industry and government practices.
The major management challenges represent what we believe to be the areas that, if not addressed, are most likely to hamper the Board’s and the Bureau’s accomplishment of their strategic objectives. We identified these challenges by assessing key themes from our discussions with management and our knowledge of the agencies’ programs and operations.
For the Board, the major management challenges, in order of significance, are as follows:
For the Bureau, the major management challenges, in order of significance, are as follows:
Today the PRAC's Financial Sector Oversight working group released a new video of a stakeholder listening forum entitled, "Pandemic Response: Perspectives on Housing." The working group is comprised of Inspectors General (IGs) with oversight responsibilities in the areas of banking, lending, and housing.
A Broken Arrow man pleaded guilty today for fraudulently applying for a Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loan guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.
Acting United States Attorney W. Anders Folk today announced the sentencing of ROBERT JOHN HAGER, 70, a former bank CEO, to 18 months in prison for making a false entry in bank records. HAGER, who pleaded guilty on May 18, 2020, was sentenced earlier today by Judge Patrick J. Schiltz in U.S. District Court.
A closed meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System was held at 1:00 p.m. on January 26, 2021 and continued at 9:00 a.m. on January 27, 2021. Matter(s) considered: Discussion of Monetary Policy Issues.
A closed meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System will be held at 1:00 p.m. on January 26, 2021 and continued at 9:00 a.m. on January 27, 2021. Matter(s) considered: Discussion of Monetary Policy Issues.
Alice Abboud, Elizabeth Duncan, Akos Horvath, Diana Iercosan, Bert Loudis, Francis Martinez, Timothy Mooney, Ben Ranish, Ke Wang, Missaka Warusawitharana, Carlo Wix | The widespread economic damage caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic poses the first major test of the bank regulatory reforms put in place following the global financial crisis. This study assesses this framework, with an emphasis on capital and liquidity requirements. Leading up to the COVID-19 crisis, banks were well-capitalized and held ample liquid assets, reflecting in part heightened requirements. Capital requirements were comparable across major jurisdictions, despite differences in the implementation of the international Basel standards. The overall robust capital and liquidity levels resulted in a resilient banking system, which maintained lending through the early stages of the pandemic. Furthermore, trading activity was a source of strength for banks, reflecting in part a prudent regulatory approach. Areas for potential improvement include addressing the cyclicality of requirements.
Stephie Fried, Kevin Novan, William B. Peterman | This paper explores how to recycle carbon tax revenue back to households to maximize welfare. Using a general equilibrium lifecycle model calibrated to reflect the heterogeneity in the U.S. economy, we find the optimal policy uses two thirds of carbon-tax revenue to reduce the distortionary tax on capital income while the remaining one third is used to increase the progressivity of the labor-income tax. The optimal policy attains higher welfare and more equality than the lump-sum rebate approach preferred by policymakers as well as the approach originally prescribed by economists--which called exclusively for reductions in distortionary taxes.
Bastian von Beschwitz, Sandro Lunghi, Daniel Schmidt | We exploit detailed transaction and position data for a sample of long-short equity hedge funds to study the trading activity of fundamental investors. We find that hedge funds exhibit skill in opening positions, but that they close their positions too early, thereby forgoing about a third of the trades' potential profitability. We explain this behavior with the limits of arbitrage: hedge funds close positions early in order to reallocate their capital to more profitable investments and/or to accommodate tightened financial constraints. Consistent with this view, we document that hedge funds leave more money on the table after opening new positions, negative returns, or increases in funding constraints and volatility.
Ralf R. Meisenzahl, Friederike Niepmann, and Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr | We show that U.S. dollar movements affect syndicated loan terms for U.S. borrowers, even for those without trade exposure. We identify the effect of dollar movements using spread and loan amount adjustments during the syndication process. Using this high-frequency, within loan variation, we find that a one standard deviation increase in the dollar index increases spreads by up to 15 basis points and reduces loan amounts and underpricing by up to 2 percent and 7 basis points, respectively. These effects are concentrated in dollar appreciations. Our results suggest that global factors reflected in the dollar affect U.S. borrowing costs.
Ann L. Owen, Judit Temesvary and Andrew Wei | We examine the effect of the social networks of bank directors on board gender diversity and compensation using a unique, newly compiled dataset over the 1999-2018 period. We find that within-board social networks are extensive, but there are significant differences in the size and gender composition of social networks of male vs female bank directors. We also find that samegender networks play an important role in determining the gender composition of bank boards. Finally, we show that those connected to male directors receive higher compensation, but we find no evidence that connections to female directors are influential in determining pay and bonuses.
Matthew Malloy and David Lowe | This note explores the potential effects of the widespread adoption of a global stablecoin (GSC) on key aggregate financial sector balance sheets in the United States. To do this, we map out cash flows of GSC transactions among financial sector entities using a stylized set of 't-accounts'. By analyzing these individual transactions, we infer aggregate and compositional effects on U.S. commercial banking sector and Federal Reserve balance sheets. Through this lens, we also consider how these balance sheet changes could affect monetary policy implementation, the demand for central bank reserves, and the market for U.S. dollar safe assets.
Cynthia L. Doniger | I document that less educated workers experience higher and more cyclically sensitive job separation rates. Meanwhile, workers with a bachelor's degree or more exhibit pro-cyclical wages while workers without a high school degree exhibit no statistically discernible cyclical pattern. Differences in the sensitivity are most stark when measurement of labor costs accounts for the value of the persistent effects of current macroeconomic conditions on future remitted wages. These findings suggest optimally differential implementation of self-enforcing implicit wage contracts in which educated workers and their employers leverage relative employment stability to smooth the effects of cyclical fluctuations over longer horizons. This margin of adjustment is less available to the less well educated, who have shorter expected employment durations. Furthermore, failure to account for the heterogeneities documented here leads to substantial underestimation of the welfare costs of business cycles.
Stephie Fried, Kevin Novan, William B. Peterman | Uncertainty surrounding if and when the U.S. government will implement a federal climate policy introduces risk into the decision to invest in capital used in conjunction with fossil fuels. To quantify the macroeconomic impacts of this climate policy risk, we develop a dynamic, general equilibrium model that incorporates beliefs about future climate policy. We find that climate policy risk reduces carbon emissions by causing the capital stock to shrink and become relatively cleaner. Our results reveal, however, that a carbon tax could achieve the same reduction in emissions at less than half the cost.
Celso Brunetti, Jeffrey H. Harris, and Shawn Mankad | Network analysis has demonstrated that interconnectedness among market participants results in spillovers, amplifies or absorbs shocks, and creates other nonlinear effects that ultimately affect market health. In this paper, we propose a new directed network construct, the liquidity network, to capture the urgency to trade by connecting the initiating party in a trade to the passive party. Alongside the conventional trading network connecting sellers to buyers, we show both network types complement each other: Liquidity networks reveal valuable information, particularly when information asymmetry in the market is high, and provide a more comprehensive characterization of interconnectivity in the overnight-lending market.
Huberto M. Ennis and Elizabeth Klee | We study new transaction-level data of discount window borrowing in the U.S. between 2010 and 2017, merged with quarterly data on bank financial con- ditions (balance sheet and revenue). The objective is to improve our under- standing of the reasons for why banks use the discount window during periods outside financial crises. We also provide a model of the decision of banks to borrow at the window, which is helpful for interpreting the data. We find that decisions to gain access and to borrow at the discount window are meaning- fully correlated with some relevant banks' characteristics and the composition of banks' balance sheets. Banks choose simultaneously to obtain access to the discount window and hold more cash-like liquidity as a proportion of assets. Yet, conditional on access, larger and less liquid banks tend to borrow more from the discount window. In general, our findings suggest that banks could, in principle, adapt their operations to modulate, and possibly reduce, their use of the discount window in "normal" times.
Daniel A. Dias and Carlos Robalo Marques | In the empirical literature, the analysis of aggregate productivity dynamics using firm-level productivity has mostly been based on changes in the mean of log-productivity. This paper shows that there can be substantial quantitative and qualitative differences in the results relative to when the analysis is based on changes in the mean of productivity, and discusses the circumstances under which such differences are likely to happen. We use firm-level data for Portugal for the period 2006-2015 to illustrate the point. When the mean of productivity is used, we estimate that TFP and labor productivity for the whole economy increased by 17.7 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, over this period. But, when the mean of log-productivity is used, we estimate that these two productivity measures declined by 4.3 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. Similarly disparate results are obtained for productivity decompositions regarding the contributions for productivity growth of surviving, entering and exiting firms.
Danilo Cascaldi-Garcia, Thiago RT Ferreira, Domenico Giannone, Michele Modugno | We build a model for simultaneously now-casting economic conditions in the euro area and its three largest member countries|Germany, France, and Italy. The model formalizes how market participants and policymakers monitor the euro area by incorporating all market moving indicators in real time. We find that area wide and country-specific data provide informative signals to now-cast the economic conditions in the euro area and member countries. The model provides accurate predictions of economic conditions in real time over a period that covers the past three recessions.
This paper was reposted April 2, 2021, with the following changes: In Figure 1, bars decomposing the nowcasted euro-area GDP growth across its main countries have been added, and an associated sentence on page 2 has been revised to reflect this.
Neil R. Ericsson | David Hendry has made–and continues to make–pivotal contributions to the econometrics of empirical economic modeling, economic forecasting, econometrics software, substantive empirical economic model design, and economic policy. This paper reviews his contributions by topic, emphasizing the overlaps between different strands in his research and the importance of real-world problems in motivating that research.
Note: This paper was republished shortly after publication to update the date on the title page.
The Federal Open Market Committee directed the Open Market Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to conduct overnight reverse repurchase agreement operations with a per-counterparty limit of $80 billion per day, effective March 18, 2021.
In light of the sustained smooth functioning of markets for agency commercial mortgage-backed securities, the Open Market Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will no longer conduct regular operations to purchase agency CMBS at the conclusion of the current schedule. The agency CMBS purchase operation currently scheduled for March 23, 2021 is expected to be the last regularly-scheduled purchase operation.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Center for Microeconomic Data released the February 2021 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows sharp increases in year-ahead gas and rent price growth expectations, with both reaching new series highs.
The board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has appointed Naureen Hassan first vice president and chief operating officer, effective March 15, 2021. The appointment was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
There will be no publication of the Tri-Party General Collateral Rate (TGCR), the Broad General Collateral Rate (BGCR), the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), or the SOFR Averages and Index on, or for, Friday, April 2, 2021. Publication of the Effective Federal Funds Rate (EFFR) and Overnight Bank Funding Rate (OBFR) follow the New York Fed’s holiday schedule and will be published on Friday, April 2, 2021.
Due to the release of the March Employment Situation report on Good Friday, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is not recommending a full closure for secondary market trading of U.S. government securities on April 2, 2021.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced the selection of additional counterparties to support agency commercial mortgage backed securities (agency CMBS) purchases. The additional agency CMBS approved counterparties are Great Pacific Securities and Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that it is launching a prequalification process for cash investment management services for the Term Asset-Backed Security Loan Facility. This is part of a multiphase competitive procurement process commenced by the New York Fed in October 2020.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced an agreement with a new cash investment manager for the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF) following the completion of its previously announced competitive procurement process. After submitting a prequalification document, selected firms were asked to respond to a request for proposal (RFP). Of the firms that responded to the RFP, Payden & Rygel, a private, California-based global investment adviser, was selected as the new cash investment manager for the SMCCF.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today announced that Daleep Singh has stepped down from his role as Head of the Markets Group and will be leaving the Bank in mid-February to join the Biden Administration as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy National Economic Council Director. Anne Baum, Head of Central Bank and International Account Services, will serve as interim Head of the Markets Group and the New York Fed will launch a search for his successor in the coming weeks.
Total commercial paper outstanding
Nonfinancial domestic commercial paper outstanding
Nonfinancial foreign commercial paper outstanding
Financial domestic commercial paper outstanding
Financial foreign commercial paper outstanding
Asset-backed commercial paper outstanding
Overnight AA nonfinancial commercial paper rate
30-day AA nonfinancial commercial paper rate
Overnight A2/P2 nonfinancial commercial paper rate
30-day A2/P2 nonfinancial commercial paper rate
Overnight AA financial commercial paper rate
30-day AA financial commercial paper rate
Overnight AA asset-backed commercial paper rate
30-day AA asset-backed commercial paper rate
Nominal Emerging Market Economies Dollar Index
Sweden Krona
New Zealand Dollar (USD per NZD)
Singapore Dollar
Malaysia Ringgit
Hong Kong Dollar
Venezuela Bolivar
Canada Dollar
Australia Dollar (USD per AUD)
Switzerland Franc
10-year Treasury constant maturity
2-month financial commercial paper
20-year Treasury constant maturity
3-month financial commercial paper
30-year Treasury constant maturity
Prime rate
5-year inflation indexed Treasury constant maturity
Discount rate
4-week Treasury bill
7-year inflation indexed Treasury constant maturity
