FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                         CONTACT: 

March 16, 2010                                            Erica Hurtt (202) 457-8783

                                                                  Cell: (443) 977-8414

MEDIA ADVISORY

Forum President & COO to Testify Before

House Financial Services Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Financial Services Forum President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Nichols will testify before the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow, March 17^th, at a hearing entitled: “Examining the Link between Fed Bank Supervision and Monetary Policy.”

In his testimony, Nichols will stress the importance of the Federal Reserve’s role in maintaining its existing supervisory authority over financial institutions of all sizes, in order to best perform its other duties as monetary authority and lender-of-last resort.  Nichols also will explain how stripping the Fed of its current power would severely undermine the strength, effectiveness, and credibility of the central bank and would have a negative impact on monetary policy, the dollar, and the stability of the financial system and the economy.

The hearing will take place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17^th in room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building.  Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board Paul Volcker will serve on the first panel.  Mr. Nichols will provide his testimony during the second panel, along with:

• Mr. Anil Kashyap, Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance and Richard N. Rosett Faculty Fellow, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
• Mr. Allan Meltzer, The Allan H. Meltzer University Professor of Political Economy, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
• Mr. Jeffrey L. Gerhart, President, Bank of Newman Grove, on behalf of Independent Community Bankers of America 

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The Financial Services Forum is a non-partisan financial and economic policy organization comprised of the CEOs of 18 of the largest and most diversified financial services institutions doing business in the United States.

The purpose of the Forum is to pursue policies that encourage savings and investment, promote an open and competitive global marketplace, and ensure the opportunity of people everywhere to participate fully and productively in the 21st-century global economy.

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