When Tim Geithner left the NY Federal Reserve Bank to become Treasury Secretary, his seat was filled by William Dudley, a former partner and chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). When he took position in February 2009, some of Dudley’s first task were reaching out to the banking titans in New York, and creating open communication. In fast, the regional reserve bank chief’s daybook showed yesterday that some of his first meetings were with Goldman and Citigroup (NYSE: C) officials.
Bloomberg News requested the records in a Nov. 29, 2010, Freedom of Information Act filing. New York Fed Senior Vice President Michael Held, in a letter to Bloomberg containing the documents, said the bank was complying “with the spirit of FOIA,” while maintaining it was not subject to the legislation. The New York Fed also published Dudley’s schedule on its website.
“In order to effectively perform his public duties, the New York Fed president must meet regularly with market participants, fellow regulators, the heads of institutions supervised by the Fed,” said New York Fed spokesman Jeffrey Smith. Dudley also meets with “members of advisory committees on small business and the regional economy, international officials and many others,” Smith said. Dino Kos, a Managing Director at Portales Partners LLC in New York and former head of markets at the New York Fed bank commented “You would expect him to have open lines of communication with these guys. It seems pretty normal.”
Further details of the daybook show that Dudley scheduled a dinner with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) chairman Jamie Dimon on Feb. 18, 2009. On March 17, 2009, he met with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke at 1 p.m., an hour before the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee met.
Other meetings with Goldman’s Blankfein followed on Feb. 18, April 3 and Dec. 11, 2009, and on Aug. 18, 2010. Dudley met with Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit on Feb. 2 and 23, and on Sept. 11 in 2009. He also met Pandit on Jan. 21, March 18, June 3 and Sept. 17 in 2010, the daybook showed.
As a permanent member of the Board of Governors, and the branch tasked with carrying out Open Market Operations, the NY Fed has always held an important spot in banking. The steps Dudley took to foster communication between all parties shows the right step in cultivating important working relationships.
