Alfred Hayes (banker)

Alfred Hayes
4th President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In office August 1, 1956 – August 1, 1975
Preceded by	Allan Sproul
Succeeded by	Paul Volcker
Personal details
Born	July 4, 1910 Ithaca, New York
Died	October 21, 1989 (aged 79) New Canaan, Connecticut
Nationality	United States
Spouse(s)	Vilma Chalmers, aka Bebba Chalmers
Children	Thomas Hayes and Anita Hayes
Alma mater	Oxford University Yale College

Alfred Hayes, Jr. (July 4, 1910 – October 21, 1989) was an American banker and an expert in international finance. Hayes was known as a conservative money manager who took a strong stand against inflation. He also had a reputation as a lightning-fast mathematician.^[1]

Biography

Hayes was born on Independence Day, July 4, 1910 in Ithaca, New York. He was a student at Harvard College before transferring to Yale, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry. He then studied for a year at the Harvard Business School before attending New College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. At Oxford, Hayes studied economics.

In 1933, Hayes became an analyst for the investment department of City Bank Farmers Trust Co. In 1940 he transferred to the bond department of the National City Bank. Two years later he became assistant secretary in the investment department of the New York Trust Co. During World War II, Hayes served for two years in Washington, D.C. and Rome as a U.S. Navy lieutenant in the office of financial planning for military government and later in the office of the Foreign Liquidation Commissioner. After the war, Hayes returned to New York Trust, where he became assistant vice president (1947). From 1949 to 1955 Hayes served as vice president in charge of the Trust's foreign division.

Most notably, Hayes served from 1956 to 1975 as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. When Hayes appeared before the House Banking Committee in 1964, committee chairman Wright Patman, a strong opponent of the Federal Reserve System, told Hayes: "You can absolutely veto everything the President does. You have the power to veto what the Congress does, and the fact is that you have done it. You are going too far."^[2]

After leaving the Federal Reserve, Hayes served as chairman of Morgan Stanley International. He retired in 1981. He died on October 21, 1989.^[1]

References

1. Wolfgang Saxon (1989-10-22). "Alfred Hayes, 79, Retired Chief Of the Reserve Bank of New York". New York Times. Alfred Hayes, who headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until 1975 and played a pivotal role in the national and world banking systems for nearly two decades, died yesterday at a nursing home in New Canaan, Conn. He was 79 years old and a longtime resident of New Canaan.
2. "TimeInc.com Official Website-brands". TimeInc.com Official Website. Retrieved 8 January 2015.

Additional reading

John Brooks, "Annals of Finance: In Defense of Sterling I," The New Yorker, March 23, 1968, 44-96
John Brooks, "Annals of Finance: In Defense of Sterling II," The New Yorker, March 30, 1968, 43-101

External links

• Federal Reserve Bank of New York biography
• "Emerging Arrangements in International Payments — Public and Private", transcript of a lecture by Alfred Hayes to the Per Jacobsson Foundation, 1975