A street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., August 7, 2025.
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams held a discussion with Wall Street's major dealers last week regarding a crucial lending facility, as reported by the Financial Times, citing three people familiar with the situation.
The meeting occurred on Wednesday, alongside the Fed's annual Treasury market conference, and included representatives from many of the 25 primary dealers responsible for underwriting government debt, according to the report. Attendees were members of banks' teams specializing in fixed income markets.
CNBC confirmed that the meeting occurred.
Williams aimed to gather feedback from these dealers on using the Fed's standing repo facility—a permanent lending tool allowing eligible financial institutions to borrow cash from the central bank in exchange for high-quality collateral such as Treasury bonds. This facility enables institutions to sell securities to the Fed with an agreement to repurchase them later, effectively acting as a market backstop.
"President Williams convened the New York Fed's primary trading counterparties [primary dealers] to continue engagement on the purpose of the standing repo facility as a tool of monetary policy implementation and to solicit feedback that ensures it remains effective for rate control," a New York Fed spokesperson told the Financial Times, which reported the news on Friday.
The meeting took place amid mounting concerns about stress in parts of the U.S. financial system and signals of tightening market liquidity.
Roberto Perli, who oversees the Fed's System Open Market Account, encompassing the central bank's bonds and cash holdings, advised Wednesday that firms needing the central bank's standing repo facility should use it whenever economically reasonable.
The New York Fed did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Read the complete Financial Times report here.