Fed’s Regional Banks Adopt Policy on Public Disclosure (1)

The Federal Reserve’s 12 regional banks adopted a limited policy for responding to public requests for information, following calls from lawmakers for greater transparency from the branches of the central bank.

The policy, released Thursday by the New York Fed bank, takes effect Jan. 1. It details which records are subject to disclosure, rules for requesting them and certain exemptions, such as items related to “internal personnel rules and practices.”

The reserve banks’ immunity to federal freedom-of-information law has frustrated lawmakers from both political parties in recent years. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and then-Republican Senator Patrick ...