I hope they didn't sniffed it out. I had waited it for 9 years ...
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Saturday January 6, 3:43 am ET
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
Ben Bernanke Says Bank Regulation Gives Federal Reserve Expertise to Address Financial Crises
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday that the Fed's job of regulating the nation's banks gives the central bank more expertise in dealing with financial crises.
In a speech to an economic conference in Chicago, Bernanke argued that the United States gets significant benefits in having its central bank also involved in regulating banks. That differs from the system in place in other countries where the central bank deals only with monetary policy -- the setting of interest rates -- and leaves bank regulation to other agencies.
"The supervisory authority of the Fed has significant collateral benefits in helping it carry out its responsibilities for financial stability," Bernanke said in his speech, copies of which were released in Washington.
Major economic powers such as Britain and Japan have chosen to place the regulation of the financial system with a single agency and leave their central banks with the sole job of setting interest-rate policies.
But Bernanke argued that the U.S. system, which gives the Fed a leading role in bank regulation, provides substantial benefits both in terms of acting to prevent financial crises and in dealing with crises if they do erupt.
"When financial stresses emerge and public action is warranted, the Fed is able to respond more quickly, more effectively and in a more informed way than otherwise would be possible," Bernanke said in remarks to the Allied Social Science Association annual meetings in Chicago.
Edited by xD&Cox, 06 January 2007 - 06:40 PM.