Fed Asks 2nd Circuit for En Banc Review of Emergency Borrowing Disclosure Order

According to Bloomberg News, the Federal Reserve has sought full en banc review by the Second Circuit of a Circuit panel's decision that the Fed must disclose the identities of banks that took taxpayer money through its emergency lending window during the banking panic of the closing months of the Bush administration.

Seeking en banc review is the final step the case can take before it is before the Supreme Court.  The Fed continues to argue that disclosing the identities of these banks will deter the banks from using the emergency provisions the Fed set up to help them during financial crisises.  Of course, it could also be said that avoiding financial crisises by bad decision making in the first place would save everyone time, money and jobs;  disclosure of the identities of these banks to stockholders and the public (who funded the loans in the first place) would go a long way to achieve better ran banks.