AmeriServ's Stopko meets with Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Federal Reserve advisory council
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – AmeriServ Financial President and CEO Jeff Stopko was recently appointed as chair to represent the Third Federal Reserve District on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council.
The 12-member council, representing the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts across the country, convenes twice a year in Washington, D.C., with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which sets interest rates and manages the country’s money supply.
The council shares insights with the Board of Governors about economic and business trends facing community depository institutions in their local markets.
The council met April 11.
Six of the seven members of the Board of Governors, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, were present, asking questions of Stopko and other council members on topics related to inflation, labor markets and housing.
“These are some key individuals who determine monetary policy for the country, and to be in a room in discussions with them was an excellent experience,” Stopko said.
The Board of Governors has been making progress in lowering inflation by increasing interest rates, but not enough to begin lowering interest rates, Stopko said.
“There was an expectation that you’d begin to see the Federal Reserve start to reduce interest rates, but inflation has been kind of bumpy of late,” he said. “They’ve gotten some readings indicating it’s still not dropping, so that is a very important topic in their world.”
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors established the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council in 2010 to provide input, the board said in a statement. The council comprises officials of community banks, thrift institutions and credit unions with assets of up to $10 billion.
“They (the Board of Governors) get a tremendous amount of economic data and have hundreds of economists that work for the Federal Reserve system, but what is very important to them are views from people on the street who are working in the local economies,” Stopko said.
“They place a lot of value on what community bankers are seeing based on interaction with customers in our markets.”
Stopko has been a member of the Philadelphia Federal Advisory Council since 2021.
That council meets twice a year in Philadelphia with a focus on economic and business conditions within the district encompassing most of Pennsylvania, part of New Jersey and all of Delaware.
With his renewal on that Third District council this year, its members selected Stopko to become the group’s chairman and representative to the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council.
Stopko said some of the comments he made on behalf of the Third District April 11 included an overview of economies throughout the Third District, which he said are performing well, but with tight labor markets.
“I commented specifically in our region of west-central Pennsylvania that manufacturing activity continues to be strong,” he said.
“Our unique defense sector here in the Johnstown region is performing very well. Some employers are adding people, and that continues to be a challenge throughout the district and country, where there is still a very low unemployment rate – so the economy is performing well, but there are still businesses having difficulty finding the right kind of skilled workers.”
Stopko said the housing market across the districts was a focal point during the meeting.
“With interest rates going up, you might have thought that would have brought housing prices down, but the general sentiment now is – it’s not that same frenzied activity of a couple years ago, but clearly when properly priced houses come on the market, there is still strong demand for them, even though interest rates are sharply higher today than they were during the pandemic,” Stopko said.
Stopko said it was interesting to hear about different price points from representatives around the table from different markets across the country.
“It’s interesting,” he said, “because even with higher interest rates, there is still not a lot of housing inventory on the market for people, and they are reluctant to leave their house where they have a 3.5% mortgage, sell their house and move up to a higher house where they have to take on a mortgage near 7%, so this shortage of houses on the market is a national situation and causing robust demand for the right kind of house.”
Stopko is among four new members appointed to the council in January, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors said in its statement.
“Unlike the Federal Advisory Council, the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council is not a statutory body, but it performs a parallel function in providing first-hand input to the board on the economy, lending conditions, and other issues,” the board said in its statement.
The members of the council represent local and regional banks charged with meeting the financial needs of their constituencies, including shareholders, customers, staff and community, said Susan Tomera Angeletti, AmeriServ senior vice president and director of corporate marketing.
Stopko is set to serve a three-year term on the council, which is scheduled to meet again with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Nov. 14 in Washington, D.C.
Follow Russ O’Reilly on Twitter @RussellOReilly.
2024 Federal Res 2024 members of the Federal Reserve’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council The new members of CDIAC in 2024: Jeffrey A. Stopko President and Chief Executive Officer AmeriServ Financial Inc. Johnstown, Pa. Ronald Justice President and Chief Executive Officer The State Bank Fenton, Mich. Agnes Catherine Ngo Chair of Central Pacific Financial Corp. Central Pacific Bank Honolulu, Hawaii Anne P. Tangen President and Chief Executive Officer BankFive Fall River, Mass. The other members of CDIAC in 2024: Daniel P. Berry President and Chief Executive Officer Duke University Federal Credit Union Durham, N.C. Dylan S. Clarkson President and Chief Executive Officer Pioneer Bank & Trust Spearfish, S.D. Tyler K. Clinch Chief Executive Officer and President First Community Bank of East Tennessee Kingsport, Tenn. Luanne Cundiff President and Chief Executive Officer First State Bank of St. Charles St. Charles, Mo. Tracy Harris President and Chief Executive Officer National Bank and Trust La Grange, Texas James S. Vaccaro Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer Manasquan Bank Wall Township, N.J.
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