Fed official: Regulators will ensure all deposits are ‘safe’

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s top financial regulator pledged that the Federal Reserve and other agencies will take whatever steps they deem necessary to protect depositors and the banking system two weeks after two large bank collapses triggered financial turmoil in the United States and Europe. Regulators “are prepared to use all of our tools for any size institution, as needed, to keep the system safe and sound,” Michael Barr, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, said in written testimony that will be delivered Tuesday to the Senate Banking Committee. The committee will hold the first formal congressional hearing on the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the shortcomings of supervision and regulation that preceded them.