Economics
Fed’s Powell Tight-Lipped on Bank Dividends and Leverage Relief
- Powell won’t answer Congress on extending capital breaks
- He also rebuffs lawmakers’ questions on shareholder payouts
Jerome Powell
Photographer: Al Drago/The New York Times/Bloomberg
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is deflecting lawmakers’ questions on two items that are at the top of Wall Street’s wish list: whether the Fed will drop restrictions on bank dividends and if it will keep giving lenders a break on capital demands due to Covid-19.
In back-to-back hearings in the Senate and House this week, Powell refused to budge in the face of repeated queries -- mostly from Republicans -- about temporary measures the Fed implemented to strengthen the financial system during the pandemic.