WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said it’s setting tougher standards for examiners of the biggest U.S. banks, following criticism by lawmakers that the agency has been captured by the Wall Street firms it supervises.

The planned changes include creating a formal process for examiners to express dissenting views on oversight, such as whether lenders are complying with banking rules and appropriately responding to regulators’ requests. The overhaul follows a year-long review that found inconsistency across the Fed’s 12 regional banks tied to supervision practices and reports produced by examiners.

Lawmakers questioned the quality of Fed oversight at Senate hearings last year following complaints by former New York Fed bank examiner Carmen Segarra, who said her ex-employer fired her for refusing to change negative findings about Goldman Sachs. The New York Fed oversees several of the largest U.S. banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

“This is long overdue,” said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, a former New York Fed employee who conducts training for financial regulators as managing principal of consulting firm MRV Associates. “It’s very, very difficult when you work at the Fed to be the person who really sticks out.”

In addition to making it easier for examiners to speak out, a centralized committee called the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee will oversee new minimum operating and documentation standards for all oversight activities, the Fed said in a statement Tuesday.


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