U.S. senators announce bipartisan push to change how Fed watchdog selected

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By Michael S. Derby

(Reuters) – Two senators announced legislation on Tuesday that would change how the Federal Reserve’s in-house watchdog is selected.

In a press release Senator Rick Scott, a Republican, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, said their bill would require the Federal Reserve’s inspector general, or IG, to be named by the president and confirmed by the Senate, breaking from the current practice where the watchdog is selected to serve by the chair of the Federal Reserve.

The senators say the fact the IG is selected by the same person whose agency he oversees “poses serious conflicts of interest,” according to a press release. The legislation comes as the Fed’s most recent IG, Mark Bialek, resigned earlier this year, in a development first reported by Politico.

The senators’ press release said Bialek “failed to hold Federal Reserve employees accountable amid ethics concerns, regulatory failures, and bank collapses.” The Fed’s IG did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Fed spokesperson acknowledged getting a letter from the senators over the IG selection process and said the central bank plans to respond.

The Fed’s Office of the Inspector General is responsible for overseeing the Fed, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It conducts audits, investigations and makes recommendations for the two agencies.

The Fed’s IG has faced criticism for going too soft on the Fed and some in the Senate have been calling for an overhaul to make the IG’s selection process more like others who do similar work in the government. The IG’s work has been in the public eye of late as it investigated a trading controversy that affected several central bank officials.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Aurora Ellis)