Monday, May 30, 2011

Secret Fed Program Gave Billions to Banks Unknown to Congress



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueTgVQkO6YU

Uploaded by on May 27, 2011

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-26/fed-gave-banks-crisis-gains-on-secre... Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc each borrowed at least $30 billion in 2008 from a Federal Reserve emergency lending program whose details weren't revealed to shareholders, members of Congress or the public. The $80 billion initiative, called single-tranche open-market operations, or ST OMO, made 28-day loans from March through December 2008. Banks paid interest rates as low as 0.01 percent that December, when the Fed's main lending facility charged 0.5 percent. Bloomberg's Bob Ivry discusses the loan program with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack."