November 2022 Remarks by James Martin to the Financial Research Advisory Committee

Welcome to the Financial Research Advisory Committee’s 20th meeting. I’m James Martin, Deputy Director of Operations performing the duties of the Director for the Office of Financial Research.

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to our committee members. I’m grateful that you continue to take time from your demanding schedules to meet with us and for your willingness to share your advice.

Since its inception, this committee has weighed in on a variety of topics and offered invaluable insights to the OFR on how to conduct its financial stability monitoring and analysis.

At our previous meeting, you offered several suggestions on how we should think about our planned collection of data on non-centrally cleared bilateral repo transactions. Since we last met in April, the OFR conducted a series of meetings with various industry participants, including government securities dealers and certain data service providers.

By gaining the perspectives of these institutions, the OFR was able to better understand the economics and technical details of the bilateral repo market’s structure, trading and transaction flow, and existing data standards.

In addition to our outreach, nine institutions voluntarily shared a sample of their non-centrally cleared bilateral repo transaction data. The insights from this pilot collection, as well as the advice that you shared, was of tremendous value as we prepare for a permanent data collection.

Now, let me give you a quick overview of today’s agenda. In just a minute, I will ask FRAC Chairman Randy Kroszner to make introductory remarks and invite all members to introduce themselves.

I will then turn the floor over to FSOC’s Deputy Assistant Secretary, Sandra Lee, to welcome the committee and to provide an update on the work of the Council. As always, thank you Sandra for joining our meeting. I think it’s great that you have the opportunity to hear firsthand advice that helps shape the OFR’s research agenda We will then turn to the presentations.

Our first presentation will be by the OFR. Francisco Ilabaca (ell-ah-bah-cah) will present findings from an upcoming brief on digital assets. I think you will find this presentation particularly interesting. Francisco used Money Services Businesses’ Call Report data to review the activities of digital asset platforms and other intermediaries. As always, we welcome input on this important topic from each member of the committee.

Following the OFR’s presentation, we have two presentations from FRAC members on very timely topics: Greg Hopper will lead a discussion on decentralized finance, or DeFi, and John Ryding will lead a discussion on inflation.

We’ll wrap up by brainstorming topics for our next meeting and plan to adjourn by 1 p.m.

I want to remind everyone this meeting is public and on the record. Questions and comments will be limited to committee members only. I’d like to thank you all for your time and commitment to the OFR, and look forward to a productive discussion. And now I’m pleased to introduce Randy Kroszner, our Chairman.

James Martin is the Deputy Director of Operations performing the duties of the Director