Roberto Perli on the Past, Present, and Future of the Fed’s Balance Sheet

Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Roberto Perli is the manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) and a senior leader in the New York Fed’s Markets Group. In his role, Roberto is responsible for implementing monetary policy at the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Roberto is also a returning guest to the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to talk about a recent speech he made titled, *Balance Sheet Reduction: Progress to Date and a Look Ahead.* Specifically, David and Roberto discuss the Fed’s recent balance sheet activities, the basics and functionality of the overnight reverse repo facility, the importance of slowing down the Fed’s balance sheet runoff, and much more.

Transcript for this week’s episode.

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*Balance Sheet Reduction: Progress to Date and a Look Ahead* - Remarks by Roberto Perli at the 2024 Annual Primary Dealer Meeting, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:04:49) – Breaking Down the Role of SOMA Manager

(00:08:43) – Recapping the Fed’s Balance Sheet Activities

(00:11:04) – How to Think About Quantitative Tightening

(00:13:19) – Breaking Down the Overnight Reverse Repo Facility

(00:20:42) – Slowing Down the Runoff and the Future of QT

(00:26:48) – How to Determine the Critical Level of Reserves

(00:33:03) – The Structural Demand for Bank Reserves Over Time

(00:38:55) – The Advantages of the Floor Operating System

(00:47:49) – Reserve Supply Focus Moving Forward

(00:49:44) – Outro