Secrecy over choosing of Fed bank chiefs spurs calls for transparency

Washington

THE Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is looking for a new president. Its board of directors hasn't said who's being considered or interviewed, or even if it's close to making a decision. There has been no direct public input.

That rankles critics who say the Fed's regional banks are too secretive about how they choose the officials who help set US interest rates.

"It should cost the system nothing to be more open," said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington and a former Bank of England policymaker.

The law governing the Fed allows the boards of the 12 regional banks - who say they're exempt from sunshine laws because they aren't government offic…