By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 2 -- When
the Federal
Reserve's
Daniel Tarullo
spoke
Wednesday at
the Council on
Foreign
Relations
about
regulatory
reform, he did
not mention a
single bank or
financial
institution.
Inner
City Press
asked him
about Deutsche
Bank, which
earlier this
year split off
its
investment
banking
business so as
to avoid Fed
regulation.
Tarullo on
March 22 told
the Senate the
Fed would have
to "respond"
to
this, that it
had some
impact on this
thinking on
regulation.
Tarullo
replied,
"Matthew, what
I said was it
effected my
thinking, not
change,
that implies a
dramatic
shift." Then
he answered,
six minutes in
all, without
once
mentioning
Deutsche Bank.
He said that
"the
kind of
changes some
private actors
are engaged in
will have to
effect the
scope of our
regulations."
These
regulations,
he said, will
be "under
165... to make
sure we can
implement
Congressional
concern."
Inner
City Press
also asked
Tarullo if he
claimed the
Fed has gotten
more
transparent
since the
financial
meltdown,
noting the
Fed's recent
denial in full
of access to
over 2000
pages
responses to
an Inner City
Press FOIA
request.
Tarullo,
which has
previously
heard of FOIA
problems at
the Fed, said
he didn't know
which FOIA
request was
referred to,
then answered
about
administrative
rule making.
He said "for
rule making,
we get
comments" and
now
distinguish
"unique
comments --
that is,
not form
letters."
He
said there
have
been "17,000
Volcker Rule
submissions...
Absorbing all
the
comments is a
substantial
undertaking.
If it takes
longer to give
due
respect to
comments," so
be it.
The
FOIA
request
referred to
was about
Capital One's
compliance,
since
the Fed's
approval order
on Capital One
- ING DIRECT,
including
with Capital
One's
commitments to
open branches
and lend $180
billion" and
about Capital
One firing 490
assistant
branch
managers
despite having
made
representations
about
increasing
service.
Amazingly,
the Fed
found 2200
pages
responsive but
provided not a
single
document,
instead saying
that "your
request is
denied in
full,"
including as
to each and
every record
"regarding
with the
Approval
Order" of
Capital One -
ING DIRECT.
ICP commented
extensively on
that
application,
as did NCRC,
and the Fed's
order
cites the
comments and
Capital One's
responses and
representations.
Now
the Fed denies
access to
every record
about
compliance
with the
representations.
Inner
City
Press' request
included a
specific
reference to
branch
closings,
for example,
which are not
confidential.
Additionally,
information
submitted and
reviewed about
compliance
with Capital
One's
representations
would contain
HMDA data,
which is
public and not
withholdable.
Even
since
the April 10
request, ICP
on April 22
submitted to
the Fed
information
about an
admission by
Capital One of
fraud on
consumers:
"Earnings
power
of HSBC card
deal to drown
out near-term
noise, says
Capital
One CEO,"
April 19, 2012
Fairbank
also
reported a $75
million
accrual for
customer
refunds
stemming
from what he
described as
'instances in
which phone
sales people
didn't adhere
to our scripts
and sales
policy when
cross-selling
products to
our credit
card
customers.' He
said it is
very important
that Capital
One ensures
customers
bought the
unspecified
products in
the manner the
company
intended."
Just
because it
SOUNDS like
the responsive
records might
include some
withholdable
information,
it is
outrageous to
withheld each
and every
responsive
record, citing
the catch-all
Exemption 8.
The Fed is
increasingly
abusing and
evading FOIA.
Watch this
site.