MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US Fed names list of chairs with no representatives from financial services

Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University chairman of NY Fed

There are no representatives of the banking or financial services industry on the list of chairs and deputy chairs designated by the United States Federal Reserve Monday to serve on the boards of the 12 regional Fed banks for 2011.

In a move to perhaps include more viewpoints from sectors outside of the financial sector, and perhaps to counter accusations that the central bank has been too cozy with the banks and large financial institutions it was meant to supervise, the Fed has put forward appointees that range from academia to the consumer goods industry.

Each Reserve Bank has a nine-member board of directors. The Board of Governors in Washington appoints three of these directors and each year designates one of its appointees as chair and a second as deputy chair.

For the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the board named Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University as chairman, while his deputy will be Katheryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City.

This should help the bank avoid accusations of a conflict of interest, constant during the financial crisis and its aftermath, particularly after then N.Y. Fed Chairman Stephen Friedman was involved in the purchase of stock in Goldman Sachs in December 2008.

Bollinger has worked with the New York Fed board since 2007 and since August 2009 as vice-president.

Friedman, who remains a member of Goldman Sachs' board, came into violation of Federal Reserve policy when Goldman was converted to a bank holding company in September 2008, thereby placing it under the regulatory authority of the New York Fed. He resigned from the board in May 2009.