New York Federal Reserve Bank

A former director of the New York Federal Reserve Bank was charged today with leaking confidential interest rate information to a securities brokerage in what prosecutors said was the first insider trading case involving government securities. Robert A. Rough, 49, of Layton, N.J., received $47,000 in interest-deferred loans from the now defunct Bevill, Bresler & Schulman investment firm in exchange for the information, the indictment charged.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank on Friday appointed William McDonough as its new president, a post second only to the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in terms of setting the nation's monetary policy. McDonough, thought of in financial circles as a moderate, will take the post Monday. He succeeds E. Gerald Corrigan, who was appointed by President Clinton earlier in the week to head the Russian-American Enterprise Fund, set up to promote private-sector development in Russia.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators met today for a new round of talks on returning more than $500 million in blocked assets to Iran, an issue that has been linked to possible Iranian intercession on behalf of American hostages in Lebanon. Iran's Parliament Speaker, Hashemi Rafsanjani, has said at least five times that his country might intercede on behalf of the hostages if Washington releases Iranian assets. Most of the six missing Americans are believed held by pro-Iranian Shia Muslim extremists.

Today * Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development begins its 55th session in Geneva. Tuesday * Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks before the American Bankers Assn. in New York. Wednesday * Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President William Poole speaks before the Ozark Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals in Springfield, Mo.

A former New York Federal Reserve Bank board member pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally passing on confidential interest rate data in the first insider trading case involving government securities. In a plea agreement, Robert A. Rough, 50, pleaded guilty to a single bank fraud charge and the government in exchange dropped two insider trading charges and four related counts. Rough admitted leaking confidential data while he served as a New York Fed board member from 1982 to 1984 to a securities firm that made about $50 million from the information.

The dollar moved lower in the United States on Thursday, after rising slightly in European trading on reports that the Bank of Japan had intervened early in the day to bring down the value of the yen against the American currency. Trading was subdued. Gold prices were mixed. Bullion was quoted at $344.50 an ounce by Republic National Bank in New York, down 50 cents from Wednesday's bid. "The dollar's off a little bit.

Former New York Federal Reserve Bank Director Robert A. Rough pleaded innocent today during his arraignment before U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise--one week after being indicted by a federal grand jury. Rough was accused of leaking information on the discount rate set by the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington to principals at Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Inc., a brokerage firm in Livingston, N.J., that later collapsed.

E. Gerald Corrigan, the former head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank who played a critical role in preventing catastrophe after the October, 1987, stock market crash, has joined Goldman, Sachs & Co., the investment bank announced Tuesday. Corrigan will lead the Wall Street firm's international advisers group. His projects will range from such areas as privatization of state-run firms to efforts by foreign countries or companies to raise money, said Stephen Friedman, chairman of Goldman.