Canadian bonds among Fed chairman’s holdings

If Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke leads the U.S. into financial ruin, he’ll still have his Canadian Treasury bonds to fall back on.

The Fed on Monday issued Bernanke’s annual financial disclosure report, which shows that the central bank chief is well-off compared with most Americans – but a pauper compared with the Wall Street chief executives who are depending on the Fed to save their bacon.

Bernanke and his family listed financial assets of $1.2 million to $2.5 million in 2007, according to Bloomberg News. Federal rules require only that Bernanke and other central bank officials report the range of their holdings, not a specific dollar total.

Bernanke, a former Princeton University professor, reported that his two largest assets were annuities: TIAA Traditional and the CREF Stock Large Cap Blend. Each was worth between $500,001 and $1 million, according to Bloomberg.

He also listed Canadian Treasury bonds as an asset. That might lead some of his critics to wonder, tongue in cheek, whether he has an emergency plan to cross the border if things get really bad.

Bernanke, 54, is worth far less than his predecessor, Alan Greenspan. The previous Fed chairman, now 82, listed total assets of $4.1 million to $8.9 million in his last year in office.

Bernanke, who draws an annual salary of about $190,000 from the Fed, succeeded Greenspan in February 2006.

 tom.petruno@latimes.com