On March 31, 2016, US Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley addressed the role of the US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and its structure and governance. He provided a detailed overview of the history of the creation and evolution of the Federal Reserve through the 20th century. He defended the Federal Reserve's actions during the financial crisis, noting that critiques of regulators should focus on shortcomings that led to the economic and financial instability of the crisis and not the Federal Reserve's intervening actions to mitigate the consequences. Dudley discussed the significant changes the Federal Reserve has taken since the financial crisis, including establishing the Large Institution Supervision Coordination Committee to look at the largest institutions and the Office of Financial Stability Policy Research to focus on the financial system at a holistic level. He also noted that the Federal Reserve has taken steps to improve transparency, including more speeches by FOMC members, regular testimony, press conferences and public notices after FOMC meetings. He cautioned against making changes to the structure of the Federal Reserve and the implementation of a formal rule for the Federal Reserve to adhere to in setting monetary policy.
President Dudley's speech is available at: https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2016/dud160331 .
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