At the New York Fed, our mission is to make the U.S. economy stronger and the financial system more stable for all segments of society. We do this by executing monetary policy, providing financial services, supervising banks and conducting research and providing expertise on issues that impact the nation and communities we serve.
On Thursday, April 11, New York Fed President John Williams spoke at the annual conference of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development. He discussed the challenges of inequitable growth and his vision for the New York Fed’s community development work.
The New York Fed today released the 2018 annual report of the System Open Market Account (SOMA). Issued to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) for much of the Fed’s history, this report provides a review of open market operations conducted by the Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk), other developments that influenced the Fed’s portfolio of domestic securities, and developments in the Fed’s foreign operations. The SOMA represents the largest asset on the Fed’s balance sheet.
Since the release of the three-volume book Investing in America’s Workforce: Improving Outcomes for Workers and Employers last year, the Federal Reserve System and its community and business partners have continued to engage communities and workforce stakeholders on the research and promising practices highlighted in the publication. (For a refresh of the main topics the book covers, see this post from Carl E. Van Horn, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Director of John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.)
At a risk-management conference this morning, New York Fed Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Held discussed financial crime and the payment system. The official sector and the financial industry have a shared goal in preventing the former and protecting the latter.
New York Fed Executive Vice President Kevin Stiroh, who heads the Supervision Group, spoke about corporate culture in the finance industry at a recent conference. He identified misconduct risk — or the potential for behaviors or business practices that are illegal, unethical, or contrary to a firm’s stated beliefs, values, policies, and procedures — as a major consideration for firms when it comes to risk management.
In a speech last week, New York Fed Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Held discussed the transition away from the widely used reference rate known as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). In his remarks, he described LIBOR’s weaknesses, the threats posed by the fact that it could soon disappear, and the urgent work under way to transition to alternative reference rates, including the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).
On Wednesday, March 6, New York Fed President John Williams spoke to the Economic Club of New York. He discussed the current economic outlook, the fundamental drivers behind slower growth, and what that means for the path of monetary policy.
On Friday, January 18, New York Fed President John Williams described the current economic outlook and gave his views on monetary policy to a meeting of the New Jersey Bankers Association. In his remarks, President Williams emphasized that his views on monetary policy are data dependent.
President Williams’ final regional visit of the year was to the Bronx, a borough that has made great strides since a period of declining population and rising crime that stretched from the 1970s into the 1980s. The progress of the last few decades notwithstanding, the Bronx still lags economically behind the rest of New York City, with the lowest median household income and highest poverty rate among the five boroughs. During his daylong visit, President Williams met with local nonprofits, businesses, and community leaders to discuss efforts to strengthen the local workforce, challenges facing small businesses, strategies to promote development without displacement, and the importance of anchor institutions and public-private partnerships.
New York City has one of the weakest credit inclusion rates in the nation, according to a recent New York Fed report. Data in our New York City Credit Profile show that 22.2% of city residents were not included in the credit economy as of the fourth quarter of 2017. That means over 1.5 million adults were without a credit file or a credit score and without ready access to mainstream financial lenders.
