(Glasgow) Joe Biden assured Tuesday that he would announce “fairly quickly” his decision to re-appoint Jerome Powell as head of the American Central Bank (Fed), stressing that there were “a lot of good” candidates.
The reflections are “in progress for a while”, underlined the American president during a press conference in Glasgow (Scotland) where he was for the COP26.
“I thought about it a lot and discussed the best choices with the economic advisers. We have a lot of good (candidates) but I’m not going to speculate now, ”he said again.
Jerome Powell’s four-year term ends next February. The White House must name the future president before confirmation from Congress.
PHOTO KEVIN DIETSCH, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Jerome powell
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who preceded Jerome Powell as Fed chief, said Monday she spoke with Joe Biden on the matter.
“I told her about the candidates and advised her to choose someone with experience and credibility,” she said on CNBC, believing that Jerome Powell had “done a good job”.
Democrats are very divided over whether to give him a second term. The criticisms were reinforced by the implication of several officials of the Fed, and of Jerome Powell himself, in connection with important stock transactions carried out during the crisis.
These revelations had led to the resignation of two regional officials and to the tightening of stock market activity rules for the heads of the institution.
Traditionally, the chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed) has been reappointed for a second four-year term. But Republican President Donald Trump broke with this tradition by appointing Jerome Powell in place of Janet Yellen, now Joe Biden’s treasury secretary.
The Fed’s board of governors has seven members, including the chairman. All are appointed by the White House, which must choose, among these members, the future president of the Fed.
The candidate expected if Jerome Powell was not reappointed is Lael Brainard, the Fed’s only Democratic governor, and a staunch defender of strict banking regulations.
But one of the seats being vacant, Joe Biden could also choose a new governor, and appoint him to the post of chairman of the Fed.
In addition to the future president to be appointed, and the vacant position to be filled, Joe Biden has a third choice to make, since the term of one of the governors, Richard Clarida, expires in January.
He will also have to choose – among the governors also – the future vice-president in charge of banking regulation. The term of Randal Quarles, who remains a member of the board of governors, in fact expired on October 13.