Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke said Saturday that the economic costs of the financial crisis “have been very severe” and the Fed has gone from managing the crisis to “supporting the economic recovery.”
Bernanke, in remarks prepared for the Independent Community Bankers of America meeting in Orlando, also emphasized the need to do something about the “pernicious problem” of financial institutions deemed “too big to fail.” He outlined a three-part plan for defusing the syndrome.
Returning to one of the themes of his congressional testimony, the Fed chief again stressed the vital role played by information that the central bank gathers from smaller banks in the process of supervising those institutions.
Bernanke steered clear of monetary policy, but his comments did suggest continued concern about economic distress. And he again suggested that banks need to increase their lending.
— Market News International
