Newsroom

March 07, 2016

GAO investigates regulatory capture at N.Y. Fed

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Ranking Member Al Green, D-Texas, have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate "regulatory capture" at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

Reuters reported last week that the GAO has begun planning its investigation.

The New York Fed has faced accusations of being too deferential to the banks it supervises, including Wall Street institutions, in part because it places its supervisors within the institutions it regulates.

The GAO said it will conduct "an assessment across all financial regulators, and the Federal Reserve will be one institution." However, the GAO said it has not determined which agencies to investigate. The focus would be on regulators that place supervisors within financial institutions, which also includes the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.