Fed Offers Banks Tips on Financial Disclosure

The Federal Reserve offered some recommendations on how big banks can improve disclosure of certain financial information. Specifically, the Fed suggested that disclosures now made annually of information involving market risk be made quarterly. It also recommended that some quarterly disclosures about credit concentrations and credit quality be more detailed. The Fed’s recommendations aren’t legally binding and are meant to provide guidance to bank officers. The recommendations embody suggestions made by a working group set up by the Fed last year. Senior executives from major banks and securities firms were on the panel, which was chaired by Walter Shipley, retired chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank.