Gettin’ the Old Federal Reserve Stiff-Arm

You can’t fault us for trying.

The Federal Reserve has emphatically rejected BankInnovation.net’s Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the purported memoranda of understanding between the Fed and Bank of America and Citigroup. In a letter dated Aug. 24, Jennifer J. Johnson, secretary of the Federal Reserve Board, informed us that our “request for information … is denied in full.” Ouch.

It has been reported that the Fed supposedly inked MOUs with Citigroup and BofA following their participation in the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program — otherwise known as the stress tests. What is interesting about the response we got from the Fed was that Johnson made a point of writing, “I neither confirm nor deny the existences of documents responsive to your request.” Make your own conclusions.