William Harding, a former Fed Chair and then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, defended the Fed’s actions in his talk. He argued that, while the Fed should not act as the arbiter of correct asset prices, it did have a primary responsibility to protect the banking system’s capacity to meet the credit needs of households and businesses.
How transparent will you have to be once the new system is in force? Asmussen: At the national level, banking supervision bodies are fully accountable vis-à-vis the national parliament. When supervision shifts to a European level, it is in the interests of the ECB to have the highest possible accountability vis-à-vis, and democratic control by, the European Parliament.