In case you haven't heard of her, Kathryn Wylde occupies the seat on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that is supposed to represent the public - "to represent the public" is her explicit mandate. Instead, she has been making headlines by representing banks. She chose the occasion of a funeral service to attack New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who in his efforts to hold banks accountable is suing to block a deal the federal government is trying to make with Bank of America, wherein investors who hold mortgages worth $174 billion would be bought of by BoA for $8.4 billion. At the memorial service, Wylde says she told Schneiderman the following:
It is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street, love em or hate em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensible.
It's time to fight for the firing of Kathryn Wylde, whose conflicts of interest in this matter couldn't be clearer. More below.
In addition to her fed board position Wylde makes almost a half million dollars representing The Partnership for New York City, a group representing business interests, which includes, you guessed it, Bank of America, as well as BNY Mellon and Blackrock, which are also involved in the securities settlement Schneiderman is suing to disrupt. The Partnershp for New York City also includes Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other companies that the New York Fed is supposed to be regulating. In fact, when BNY Mellon issued a statement condemning Schneiderman's actions, they referred press questions to Wylde herself.
Meanwhile, Wylde had the nerve to say that her comments bore no relationship to her role with the Fed, and that there was no conflict of interest at all:
"The Fed really had nothing to do with any of this. I jumped to the defense of an important NY employer and that is really the story."
Wylde went on to say that while the Fed regulates banks, she as a board member does not - she's just there to report on economic conditions. In past writings, Wylde has argued for weakening Dodd-Frank and its derivative provisions, saying they were too hard on the banking industry.
It seems to me and other observers that the New York Federal Reserve would be best served by someone who knew that their true loyalty was to the public interest - not to the banks that the Fed is supposed to be regulating.
Join with me and sign the petition to the Fed to fire Kathryn Wylde.