The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal that sought to stop the U.S. Federal Reserve from disclosing details about its emergency loans to banks during the financial crisis in 2008.
The Clearing House Association had asked the high court to reverse a federal appeals court ruling that required disclosure of the lending records. The Obama administration had opposed the appeal, as did two news organizations , which sought the information under the Freedom of Information Act.
The lower court, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, said such information is not exempt from requests under the Freedom of Information Act. It ordered the disclosure of borrowers’ names, loan amounts and loan dates for transactions at the Fed’s discount window and from its emergency lending facilities.
Clearing House members include Bank of America Corp, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase, UBS AG and Wells Fargo. They said the appeals court ruling threatened numerous federal programs that depend on keeping commercial transactions confidential.