Reform Group Questions Fed On Big Bank Commodity Ownership

Should banks own and trade commodities? Citing a recent trend towards manipulative behavior, Americans for Financial Reform argues that the Fed should take for strong action to reduce bank ownership of physical commodities. Who benefits, the public or the banks? “Episodes of market abuse raise serious questions as to whether bank participation in commodities provides a clear public benefit, questions that the Board has not adequately answered,” the financial reformers said in a letter to the US Federal Reserve. Saying the US Federal Reserve has a legal obligation to “weigh public benefits of commodity ownership” of the banks against “the…