Fed won't allow outsiders in private meetings on rates

The Federal Reserve has decided to end its practice of sometimes allowing outsiders, including foreign bankers, to observe its private meetings on interest rates.

The central bank said it will allow only Fed employees into the meetings. And a Fed bank in Kansas City that allowed bankers from China and Russia into closed-to-the-public board meetings has discontinued the custom, the Fed's chairman told a member of Congress."We have taken steps to assure that only appropriate people have access to confidential information," Alan Greenspan said in a letter to Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, a frequent Fed critic who exposed the practice this summer.