Stanley Fischer, the nominee for vice chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has a fortune of up to $56.3 million, reports "Bloomberg". Fischer disclosed his assets as part of the nomination process.
Under US law, a nominee for federal public office must disclose his or her assets, including securities, property, salary and other income. The Form 278: Public Financial Disclosure Report is publicly available at the Office of Government Ethics website.
Fischer's disclosure covers 34 pages. By law, the disclosure need not set precise figures, but a range of values for each asset. According to "Bloomberg", Fischer amassed a personal fortune of between $14.6-56.3 million, a sum that would make him one of the wealthiest Fed officials. Fed chairwoman designate Janet Yellen disclosed $4.8-13.3 million in assets.
Fischer's academic and government positions include teaching posts at the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by positions at the World Bank and IMF, and most recently, Governor of the Bank of Israel.
Fischer largest single asset is residential real estate in New York City, valued between $5-25 million, on which he earns $100,000-1 million in rent. Fischer, who was born and raised in what are now Zambia and Zimbabwe, also owns property in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city.
Fischer's financial assets include $100,000-250,000 in the Citigroup Employee Fund of Funds, and $1-5 million in the Blenheim Fund. His investments portfolio includes shares in Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), Exxon Mobile Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK), eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MDC), Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL), Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL), and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL).
"After confirmation but before I assume the duties of the position of Federal Reserve Governor, I will divest my interests,” said Fischer in a statement to the Ethics Official of the Federal Reserve System's board of governors. The divestment will include his and his wife's holdings in Blackrock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), General Electric (NYSE: GE), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP), MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA), the Toronto Dominion Bank (TSX: TD-E), and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (Nasdaq: TROW).
According to "Bloomberg", Fischer disclosed $283,000 in speaking fees since leaving the Bank of Israel, ranging from $60,000 to Nykredit, a financial institution in Copenhagen, Denmark, to $50,000 for a speech to Barclays plc, to $2,000 for a speech at the RAND Corporation.
Fischer disclosed that he has earned $15,000-50,000 in royalties from sales of his book "Macroeconomics", and $1,000-2,000 in royalties from his book "Lectures in Macroeconomics". While serving at the Fed, Fischer may not edit or write revisions to his books.
Fischer added that, after joining the Fed, he will resign his positions with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 9, 2014
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