Stephen Friedman, chairman of the New York Federal Reserve’s board of directors, abruptly resigned last week amid questions about stock he had purchased from his former employer, Goldman Sachs.
Under Fed policy, regional Fed bank directors appointed by the central bank’s board of governors are not allowed to own shares of bank holding companies. But at the time that Goldman Sachs had gained such a status, Friedman obtained a one-year waiver regarding his shares, so that he could remain chairman of the New York Fed’s board, a position he has held since January 2008.
