The Wall Street Journal reports,"Stanley Fischer, President Barack Obama’s pick for Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, will sell his holdings of several financial firms to avoid conflicts of interest if confirmed by the Senate, he said in a letter released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics".
The firms include asset manager BlackRock Inc. and American Express Co. He would also divest his interests in the Citigroup Employees Fund of Funds I, LP. His wife would sell holdings in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., General Electric Co., American Express and MasterCard Inc.
“I understand that as an appointee I am required to sign the Ethics Pledge and that I will be bound by the requirements and restrictions therein in addition to the commitments I have made in this and any other ethics agreements,” Mr. Fischer wrote in the letter to Fed Assistant General Counsel Cary Williams.
The letter was first reported Thursday by Bloomberg News. Senators of both parties expect Mr. Fischer to be confirmed to the Fed’s No. 2 post. Mr. Fischer’s nomination comes at a time when the Fed starting to wind down its bond-buying program, which is aimed at spurring stronger economic growth.
Mr. Fischer served for eight years as governor of Israel’s central bank. He was vice chairman of Citigroup between 2002 and 2005 and spent seven years as a First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
He is expected to have a strong influence in the direction of policy, but also to work closely with new Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
