UPDATE 2-US Fed appeals court order to reveal bailout details

(Adds stay request, comment from filing)

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday appealed a court order requiring it to reveal the names of the banks that have participated in its emergency lending programs and the sums they received.

The central bank said it will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn an August order by a New York district court judge that it release the information under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News.

The Fed in late 2007 launched programs designed to help financial institutions weather the economic crisis, thaw frozen credit markets and prevent a meltdown of the global financial system.

The central bank's board of governors has worried that disclosing specific details would stigmatize the participating banks, threatening both them and the U.S. economy which is trying to rebound from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

"The reports contain confidential commercial information, the release of which will cause substantial competitive harm to depository institutions to whom the information pertains, seriously undermining the Board's ability to administer lending programs crucial to maintaining the health of the nation's financial system," the Fed said in a court filing.

The central bank has released some aggregate information about its lending programs but not individual borrowers, amounts, dates or other details.

The Fed also asked the appeals court to consider its appeal on an expedited basis and grant a stay of the lower court ruling pending the resolution of the case.

A spokeswoman for Bloomberg had no immediate comment.

The case is: Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan), No. 08-9595. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington and Grant McCool in New York, Editing by Dan Grebler and Diane Craft)