Sunday, March 16, 2008

Housing group challenges Fed's Bear Stearns deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A housing and fair lending activist group has challenged the legality of the Federal Reserve's quick approval of financing for Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) via JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), questioning the Fed's authority to approve the deal because it involves a non-bank institution.

Inner City Press Community on the Move, in a complaint filed with the Fed late Saturday, called the central bank's brokering of the deal "entirely illegal" and anticompetitive, and questioned whether sufficient Fed members had voted for it.

In a first step toward challenging the bailout, Inner City Press questioned the legality of the Fed approving the deal without public notice, on the grounds Bear Stearns "is not a banking holding company and does not own a bank."

No comments: