San Francisco Fed’s Mary Daly Skips Conference Remarks After SVB Collapse

(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly, who is among senior central bankers whose role in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is under scrutiny, has pulled out of an appearance at a conference hosted by her bank.

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Daly canceled plans to introduce colleague Governor Christopher Waller at a monetary policy conference being hosted by the San Francisco Fed on March 31, according to a bank spokeswoman, who said Daly had a scheduling conflict. Daly, who has frequently spoken at conferences, events and in media interviews, has no public engagements scheduled in the immediate future, the bank said. The spokeswoman declined further comment.

Lawmakers and others have questioned what role the San Francisco Fed, among others, played in the collapse of SVB earlier this month. Examiners from the regional Fed bank reported problems at SVB months ago, but it remains unclear why SVB was not made to address the problems, and whether either Daly or Fed Chair Jerome Powell knew about the escalating issues.

Top policymakers were stumped by the problems at SVB, Powell said at a Wednesday press conference following the central bank’s March 21-22 meeting. The Fed launched an internal investigation into the matter days after SVB was taken into receivership and plans to release the findings by May 1.

Lawmakers from both political parties are also investigating. Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter Thursday to Powell and Daly requesting a slew of internal records about SVB’s failure, and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Powell earlier in the month.

Both chambers of Congress are holding hearings next week with bank regulators, including Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr.