Fed monitoring bond insurer impacts-Bernanke
Wed Feb 6, 2008 5:57pm EST
WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a letter released on Wednesday that the Fed is "closely monitoring" any potential economic and banking impacts that might be felt from problems with bond insurers.
"Given the adverse effects that problems of financial guarantors can have on financial markets and the economy, we are closely monitoring developments," Bernanke said in the letter dated Feb. 4 to Rep. Paul Kanjorski, chairman of a House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees capital markets and the insurance industry.
Kanjorski had sought input from a range of regulators as he considers possible reforms to oversight of bond insurers. The Pennsylvania Democrat said the responses to his request have convinced him there is a need for reform and he will hold a hearing on Feb. 14 to explore the issue.
In his letter, Bernanke added: "In addition, we are closely monitoring the potential effect of downgrades of financial guarantors on bank holding companies, state member banks, and other institutions supervised by the Federal Reserve.
"We believe we have the appropriate tools to assess exposures to bond insurers of the banks that we supervise."
As fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis spreads, lawmakers and regulators have grown concerned about the credit ratings of Ambac Financial Group Inc (ABK.N: Quote, Profile, Research), MBIA Inc (MBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. and other bond insurers.
In a memo also released by Kanjorski's office, a top official at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the largest Wall Street banks are "highly aware of and actively managing their exposures" to the bond insurance industry