Bernanke: U.S. exposure to periphery 'manageable'
Bernanke: U.S. exposure to periphery 'manageable' (by Steve Goldstein)
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The exposure of U.S. banks to Greece, Ireland and Portugal is manageable and quite small, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told U.S. Senator Bob Corker in a letter written in July that was released Tuesday. The nearly $200 billion exposure the Bank for International Settlements has reported capture only one side of banks' credit-default swap exposure, Bernanke said. Confidential supervisory information and CDS data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s trade information warehouse indicate that the exposures are "quite small." Bernanke does note a sovereign credit event could affect a broad range of markets and financial institutinos.