First Question On Fed Personal Trading/Ethics

The first Q re Fed personal trading/ethics - do you think there is more you need to do to rebuild Fed credibility, e.g. Blind trusts? Were laws broken?

• Powell: The ethics system had been in place for decades and served us well, and then that was no longer the case. We had no moment of denial about that. We stepped in and took the actions that we took. We announced a new set of rules to try to put us back where we need to be. We need to have the complete trust of the American people that we are working in their interests all the time. I feel like this called that into question. We reacted, I would characterize it, as strongly and forcefully. If there are other things that were reasonable, we would do that.
• Re blind trusts: The overall authority is the Office of Government Ethics, OGE. They think they are cumbersome and they think there are better ways.
• Re laws broken: I asked the inspector general to look to see whether there were rules and laws broken. I won't speculate on that. That is with the inspector general now and out of our hands.