15 May 2009
The Honorable Timothy F. Geithner
Secretary of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20220
Dear Secretary Geithner:
I have recently read the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program: Overview of Results produced by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system. I am neither an accountant nor an economist, but I found the document to be interesting reading. The Overview is comprehensive and informative. It will be interesting to see how the several banks adjust their operations as a result.
There are, however, several banking corporations that have been overlooked. The asset levels of these banks are closely tied to our nation's economy, yet there has been no “stress test” conducted on them. The banks to which I refer are:
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Massachusetts
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Virginia
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Georgia
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Illinois
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Missouri
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, California
Perhaps the Board of Governors felt that, because they already are conversant of the operations of these banks, a separate report was unnecessary. But the assets of these banks back up one of the strongest currencies in the world; applying the “stress test” criteria on them would give us all a close look at the state of our economy and allow us to plan for our futures.
Sincerely,
Christopher J Osburn
