By Michael S. Derby
NEW YORK--The leaders of the Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks
reflected widely divergent financial situations last year,
according to annual disclosure forms released Thursday.
The economic policy makers who spent their careers in the
financial sector before joining the government declared the largest
holdings of assets in 2013, while those who spent most of their
working lives in academia or government reported much less.
New York Fed President William Dudley, Dallas Fed President
Richard Fisher and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart continued
to report the most extensive asset holdings relative to their
colleagues, the documents show. These officials reported
substantial holdings of individual stocks and investment funds. The
documents also show Mr. Fisher and Mr. Lockhart were again the most
active participants in financial markets of the regional bank
presidents last year, buying and selling assets.
Mr. Lockhart reported holdings of between $50,000 and $250,000
each in companies including Apple Inc., Nike Inc., Marriott
International Inc. and Target Corp., with the rest of his money
placed in a diverse array of businesses.
Mr. Lockhart reported selling stock valued between $1,000 and
$50,000 each in firms including Time Warner Cable Inc., Apple Inc.,
and in several real-estate investment vehicles. He purchased shares
in the same dollar range from Potash Corp.
Mr. Fisher retained significant holdings of land, including
2,000 acres in Montgomery City, Texas, valued at more than $1
million. Mr. Fisher owned an array of stocks and was invested in a
number of different money funds.
He purchased shares, with combined value of less than $50,000
per company, of Apple Inc., Coach Inc. and Intel Corp., among other
companies. He also sold shares, worth less than $50,000 per
company, of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Cisco Systems Inc. and Linear
Technology Corp.
Mr. Fisher, who frequently worries about what he sees as the
growing risks of Fed's easy money policies to the economy and the
financial system, also bought and sold positions in SPDR Gold
Trust.
Mr. Dudley again reported extensive holdings in investment funds
and securities, as well as cash. He listed a number of individual
holdings with values in excess of $1 million.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard continued to have the most
meager holdings of the regional bank presidents, listing almost no
assets.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota
listed as additional income in 2013 the $322 in royalties he was
paid for his 2010 textbook entitled, "The New Dynamic Public
Finance."
Kansas City Fed President Esther George, who has warned
repeatedly of farmland prices rising precipitously, reported that
last year she sold her 50% share of a farm in St. Joseph, Missouri,
for between $50,000 and $250,000.
Write to Michael S. Derby at michael.derby@wsj.com