Senator requests Fed watchdog review of central bank official's dinner with bank executives

A U.S. senator has requested that the Federal Reserve's internal oversight office review a dinner attended by a senior central bank official and executives from a large commercial bank. The senator cited concerns about potential conflicts of interest in communications between regulators and supervised institutions.

Background on the request Federal Reserve rules require officials to avoid even the appearance of favoritism toward banks they oversee. The internal watchdog is responsible for investigating whether those standards were followed. No public details have been released about the content of the dinner or any decisions discussed.

The Federal Reserve has not issued a statement on the matter. The senator's letter asked the watchdog to determine whether additional ethics training or disclosure requirements are needed for senior staff.