Editor’s Note: See earlier story here.
From: Wall Street Journal
By WILLIAM LAUNDER
Bloomberg LP’s disclosure that it had restricted newsroom access to certain customer data prompted an inquiry from the Federal Reserve, the Fed said, as well as the Treasury, according to a person familiar with the situation.
“We are looking into this situation and have been in touch with Bloomberg to learn more,” a Fed spokeswoman said Saturday.
Meanwhile, Treasury Department officials are aware of the issue and are looking into the matter, a person familiar with the situation said.
A Bloomberg spokesman said it hasn’t received “any formal inquiries” from any government authority.
Bloomberg blocked its news division last month from the ability to view when a subscriber had most recently logged onto the service, when they had first become a subscriber and from viewing a tally of the types of functions that subscribers can access through the terminal, the company said earlier.
Officials at both the Fed and Treasury have Bloomberg terminals.
The move to restrict access last month was prompted by a complaint from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., GS +0.38% a big Wall Street client. Since then, the company has further shored up data security and compliance measures. In April, Bloomberg appointed a senior executive, Steve Ross, to a new position charged with overseeing data-compliance matters, Chief Executive Daniel Doctoroff wrote in an email to staff Friday. Bloomberg clients were informed of the changes and the creation of a dedicated compliance post in a separate email Friday.
A spokesman for Bloomberg declined to comment on a CNBC report on Saturday that a former Bloomberg employee accessed user data of the Bloomberg terminals of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Dow Jones & Co, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, competes with Bloomberg in financial news and information.
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