**The US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) will hold its first public hearing on Wednesday.**The 10-member panel was established by Congress to examine the causes of the 2008 US financial crisis.
It will examine the “root causes of the crisis, hearing testimony on the causes and current state of the crisis” from private and public sector leaders.
Witnesses will include top executives from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Findings and report of the panel, which has been given a reported budget of $8m to carry out its task, will be presented to Congress and President Barack Obama by 15 December.
One of the members of the panel, Keith Hennessey, has already posted on his blog the questions he would like to ask bank chiefs.
Mr Hennessey is ex-senior White House economic advisor to former US president George W Bush.
‘Hands tied’
The 10 commissioners, appointed by Republicans and Democrats, also include a former Wall Street analyst, Heather Murren, the chairman of the board at technology company Symantec, John W Thompson, and a market regulator and lawyer, Brooksley Born, as well as former elected officials from both major political parties.
Ms Murren told the BBC that there were officially 22 issues under investigation, from regulatory reform, to mortgage fraud and executive compensation.
The BBC’s Karen Nye said that Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein is expected to tell the commission about its risk management policies, its diversified businesses and newly restricted bonuses.
James Reda, who heads an executive compensation advisory firm, told our correspondent that Wall Street was trying to respond to the issue of bonuses “but their hands are tied”.
“If they don’t pay these individuals high bonuses, they run the risk of losing those people,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ms Murren has said that there is a strong feeling among the public that those who contributed to the financial crisis should be held accountable and perhaps not compensated so strongly.