Federal Reserve News

Greenberg Cautions on Quick Fed Pullback; Prefers Yellen Over Summers

Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former head of American International Group Inc., said the Federal Reserve could disrupt financial markets by curbing bond buying too quickly and that Janet Yellen would take a measured approach. “It’s got to be done gradually,” Greenberg, …

Senate Bill Gives Federal Reserve Flexibility on Systemically Important Insurers

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is introducing legislation that would give the Federal Reserve more flexibility in regulating systemically important insurance companies such as American International Group Inc. The Senate bill, whose sponsors include Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown and …

Insurers, State Regulators Try to Block Bank-Like Rules by Federal Reserve

MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. have been joined by state regulators challenging the Federal Reserve on how to oversee the biggest insurers under the Dodd-Frank law. The insurers and watchdogs are pressuring the Fed to avoid bank-like capital rules …

Report: U.S. Making Progress Against ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Bailouts

For the past year, a special team of U.S. bank regulators has been on a quiet mission to end the belief on Wall Street that large banks are “too big to fail.” The team from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. …

Saft Commentary: The Fed Discovers Chicanery

Acknowledging that sometimes banks chisel clients and bank employees chisel banks may sound obvious to you, but for the Federal Reserve this is a pretty big step forward. Jeremy Stein, a member of the Board of Governors of the Fed, …

U.S. Regulators Urge Flexibility in Basel III Rules for Banks, Insurers

U.S. lawmakers and state financial regulators on Thursday called on federal officials to revamp proposed rules that would force financial firms to hold much more capital, asking them to consider the impact on small banks and insurance companies. U.S. bank …

Swiss Re Chief Economist Sees Rising Rates by Year End

On the heels of the decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to maintain the target fed funds rate at zero to 25 basis points Swiss Re’s Chief Economist, Kurt Karl, commented: “The US economy has been weak recently, but is …

MetLife Receives Fed Extension on Capital Plans

MetLife Inc. received a three-month extension from the U.S. Federal Reserve on its plans to return capital to shareholders, the company said on Tuesday, potentially removing a short-term overhang on its stock. Its shares were up 5.4 percent on Tuesday …

Geneva Association Reminds Federal Reserve Insurers Aren’t Banks

The Swiss-based insurance think tank Geneva Association has followed up on its recent report as to whether or not some insurers should be considered as G-SIFI’s (globally systemic important financial institutions). The Association has sent a letter to the Federal …

New York Fed Taps 5 Banks to Bid for AIG Bonds: WSJ

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has invited five banks to bid for mortgage bonds of insurer American International Group, the Wall Street Journal reported. The five banks selected are the U.S. securities units of Barclays PLC, Credit Suisse …