Fed Accidentally Released Confidential Staff Projections
by Christopher CondonCraig Torres
The Federal Reserve said it inadvertently released staff projections for interest rates and the economy late last month, renewing doubts about its measures to protect confidential information.
The Fed said in a statement Friday in Washington that projections prepared for the June 16-17 Federal Open Market Committee meeting were posted in error on a public website on June 29. Staff projections are normally released with a five-year lag when transcripts of FOMC meetings are published.
The disclosure follows congressional criticism over the Fed’s handling of a leak of internal policy deliberations in 2012, which is being investigated by the House Financial Services Committee.
“It regrettably appears once again that proper internal controls are not in place to safeguard confidential Federal Reserve information,” Jeb Hensarling, the Texas Republican who chairs the House panel, said in an e-mailed statement.
In a separate incident in April 2013, a member of the Fed’s congressional liaison staff accidentally e-mailed a copy of the minutes of an FOMC meeting to more than 100 people, including bank lobbyists and congressional staff, about 19 hours before the minutes were due to be published.
The latest mishap “does raise questions as to what procedures are in place to safeguard confidential information and to make sure there is fair disclosure of market-sensitive data,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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