Fed resignations don't blunt calls for broader ethics changes

Hauser said Powell (pic) "should have made referrals" for investigations of Kaplan and Rosengren by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice."These figures shouldn't be able to resign and move into consulting and hedge funds or private equity in six months hence."

WASHINGTON: U.S. consumer and public interest groups on Monday kept up the pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to impose stricter ethics rules on Fed officials, after two Fed bank presidents resigned because of controversial investing activity last year.

As Powell looks to be appointed to a second four-year term, "The Federal Reserve from Powell on down is desperate to end this scrutiny without looking into whether there should be legal repercussions," for Dallas Federal Reserve president Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren, said Jeff Hauser, head of the progressive Revolving Door Project.