Bernanke To Advise At PIMCO After Testing The Hedge Fund Waters

The former chairman of the US Federal Reserve has joined another institution not regulated by the Fed. From now on Ben Bernanke will be lead consultant at Deutsche Bank, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), which monitors assets of approximately $1.59 trillion. “The Fed does not regulate Pimco or its parent or any other firm that is affiliated with it,” Bernanke said, according to Reuters. “So there is no contact.” Bernanke himself removed the entities out from under his jurisdiction while in office. Citadel Investment, the hedge fund founded by billionaire Ken Griffin and one of the largest on Wall Street, hired the former economic adviser to George W. Bush in mid-April. Citadel manages over $25 billion in assets under management. Former Reagan adviser and Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, Alan Greenspan, previously accepted a position as a consultant at PIMCO as well as hedge fund Paulson & Company. Just over a month ago Jeremy C. Stein, who left the Fed last May, agreed to join as an advisor to BlueMountain Capital Management. Bernanke, who had been sympathetic to the criticism of public opinion towards these ‘revolving doors’, explained that both of his positions are outside the regulation of the Fed, so he will not be doing any ‘lobbying’. “I wanted to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Bernanke said, according to the NYT. “I ruled out any firm that was regulated by the Federal Reserve.” The former Fed Chairman will combine his work as a PIMCO and Citadel with his current job as a researcher at the Brookings Institute and his activity as a lecturer and waiting to publish next October his book ‘The courage to act’ in which looks back on his years as head of the Fed in which had to deal with the worst economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression.