Janet Yellen Condemns Wall Street For Poor Ethics

Since the Federal Reserve has normally been very cautious, it shocked many when its chief, Janet Yellen, slammed the the major Wall Street banks for a culture of illegal and unethical actions, Vox reported. Yellen discussed taking regulatory steps to make the financial system more stable.

“Beyond focusing on capital and liquidity, the Fed also promotes safety and soundness by seeking to ensure that banks are well managed and subject to strong governance by a board of directors responsible to shareholders. It is unfortunate that I need to underscore this, but we expect the firms we oversee to follow the law and to operate in an ethical manner. Too often in recent years, bankers at large institutions have not done so, sometimes brazenly. These incidents, both individually and in their totality, raise legitimate questions of whether there may be pervasive shortcomings in the values of large financial firms that might undermine their safety and soundness,” Vox quoted Janet Yellen as stating in regard to a lack of ethics on Wall Street.

The unethical and illegal actions Janet Yellen pointed to have been the subject of congressional and regulatory actions.

Yellen further stated, “This could all end up being empty words, but it probably won’t. The Fed has slowly but surely tightened the screws on America’s banking giants over the past few years. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pushing them hard on this in Congress, even as the Fed seeks progressive allies to help it fend off calls for more congressional “auditing” to reduce its autonomy over monetary policy.”

Speaking in New York City, Janet Yellen accused major banks of unethical actions and even breaking the law. NBC News reported about Yellen making the comments.

“Yellen’s comments come as the issues of bank regulation and financial system reforms are very much alive in the new Republican-controlled Congress. During Yellen’s congressional testimony last week, some GOP lawmakers complained that the Dodd-Frank financial reform act had gone too far and was holding the economy back by curtailing lending. From the Democratic side, Yellen and the Fed have taken heat for being too lenient on the big banks,” NBC News reported about the controversial comments by Janet Yellen.

Janet Yellen was President Obama’s choice to head the Federal Reserve, the Inquisitr reported back in October of 2013. Yellen was appointed by the president to replace outgoing Fed Chief, Ben Bernanke.

“Before she served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen was president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 until 2010. She also served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1997 until 1999,” the Inquisitr reported.

[Image of Janet Yellen from Vox]