##cial firms has been relatively strong recently. still, spreads over treasury rates paid by both investment - grade and speculative - grade corporate borrowers remain quite elevated. investors seemed to adopt a more positive outlook on the condition of financial institutions after several large banks reported profits in the first quarter, but readings from the credit default swap market and other indicators show that substantial concerns about the banking industry remain. as you know, the federal bank regulatory agencies began conducting the supervisory capital assessment program in late february. the program is a forward - looking exercise intended to help supervisors gauge the potential losses, revenues, and reserve needs for the 19 largest bank holding companies in a scenario in which the economy declines more steeply than is generally anticipated. the simultaneous comprehensive assessment of the financial conditions of the 19 companies over a relatively short period of time required an extraordinary coordinated effort among the agencies. the purpose of the exercise is to ensure that banks will have a sufficient capital buffer to remain strongly capitalized and able to lend to creditworthy borrowers even if economic conditions are worse than expected. following the announcement of the results, bank holding companies will be required to develop comprehensive capital plans for establishing the required buffers. they will then have six months to execute those plans, with the assurance that equity capital from the treasury under the capital assistance program will be available as needed. federal reserve transparency i will conclude with a few comments on federal reserve transparency. the federal reserve remains committed to transparency and openness and, in particular, to keeping the congress and the public informed about its lending programs and balance sheet. as you may know, we have created a separate section of our website devoted to providing data, explanations, and analyses bearing on these topics and related issues. 3 recent postings include the annual financial statements of the 12 federal reserve banks, the board of governors, and the limited liability companies created in 2008 in response to risks to the financial system, as well as the most recent reports to the congress on our emergency lending programs. earlier this year i asked vice chairman kohn to lead a review of our disclosure policies, with the goal of increasing the range of information that we make available to the public. the group has been making substantial progress, and i am pleased to say that we will soon be adding to the website material that provides the information requested in the dodd - shelby amendment to the recent budget resolution. specifically, we will be adding new tables that provide information on the number of borrowers under each program and more information on the details of the

credit extended, including measures of the concentrations of credit among borrowers. in addition, we will be providing monthly information on the collateral that is being taken under our various lending programs, including breakouts by types of collateral and by ratings categories. and we will be supplementing information provided on the valuation of collateral for the maiden lane facilities and the commercial paper funding facility. finally, we will be providing additional information on the extent of our contracting with private firms with respect to our lending programs as well as on the terms and nature of such contracts. over time, we expect to continue to expand the range of information on our website as our review of disclosure practices proceeds. thank you. i will be pleased to respond to your questions. " credit and liquidity programs and the balance sheet, " is a section of the board's website.