Washington, D.C., November 19, 2014  – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement today in response to a bill filed by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) that calls for the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate:

“No institution as powerful as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York should be unaccountable to publicly elected officials in a democracy. The importance and influence of the New York Fed cannot be overstated, as illustrated by its outsized role in the 2008 financial crash and the associated bailouts.  In addition, its President is the Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, a key mechanism for setting monetary policy, and the New York Fed itself has supervisory and regulatory responsibility for Wall Street’s largest too-big-to-fail banks.  Its actions and activities have enormous consequences for the standard of living of every American family as well as for the economic growth of the entire country,” said Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the financial markets.

“Bringing transparency, oversight, and accountability to the secretive conduct of the New York Fed must be a priority and efforts to do that should be fully supported, including requiring that its President be a Presidential nominee confirmed by the Senate.”

Better Markets is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes the public interest in financial reform in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets. Better Markets advocates for transparency, oversight and accountability with the goal of a stronger, safer financial system that is less prone to crisis and failure thereby eliminating or minimizing the need for more taxpayer funded bailouts. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.