A former top Federal Reserve official, who oversaw the U.S. central bank’s trading desk, has warned that the type of actions taken so far to quell this week’s turmoil in money markets may not be enough to keep conditions calm and fresh debt purchases may be needed.
Simon Potter, the former New York Fed executive, made the remarks during a conference call that Bank of America hosted for its clients, according to three people who listened.
Potter cautioned that policy makers may have to expand the central bank’s balance sheet through outright purchases of U.S. Treasury securities, to ensure stable liquidity conditions at the end of the quarter as well as at year-end, said the people, who declined to be named because the call was private.
The recommendation follows a week of intense upheaval in money markets during which short-term interest rates spiked and pulled the Fed’s policy benchmark rate outside its target range. It also goes beyond what the New York Fed has promised so far to keep the situation in check going forward.
A spokeswoman for the New York Fed declined to comment on Potter’s remarks. Potter and Bank of America also declined to comment.
The reserve bank announced later Friday that it would offer so-called term repurchase agreements over the upcoming quarter-end, which would allow financial institutions to borrow cash from the Fed either overnight or for two-week periods, secured by Treasury collateral.
Read more: Inside New York Fed, Abrupt Ousters Shake Staff and Sink Morale
Potter was abruptly dismissed in May by New York Fed President John Williams, who assumed the top post at the bank in June 2018. The departure of Potter, a 21-year veteran of the institution, raised concerns about Williams -- a widely-respected monetary economist -- because of his relative lack of experience with financial markets. The New York Fed has yet to announce Potter’s successor.
The New York Fed was forced to intervene in money markets with overnight cash loans for the first time in a decade on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to contain short-term interest rates. Surges in the rate on overnight repo loans normally occur only at quarter-end and sometimes month-end.
This mid-month jump was attributed to a confluence of events that knocked cash reserves in the banking system out of balance with the volume of securities on dealer balance sheets: a corporate tax payment date, settlement of last week’s Treasury auctions, and last week’s bond-market sell-off, in which investors sold securities back to dealers.