Biden nominates Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for a second term

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Jerome Powell

Photo: POOL / REUTERS

Fed chairman Jerome Powell is expected to lead the powerful US Federal Reserve for four more years.

US President Joe Biden announced on Monday that 68-year-old Powell would be nominated for a second term at the helm of the Federal Reserve (Fed).

Powell, 68, has to be ratified by the US Senate.

There, however, the personnel should not meet with resistance.

A senior Republican senator had spoken out in favor of the incumbent early on.

Powell, a Republican, was named by Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.

Powell's four-year term expires in February 2022.

The lawyer and former investment banker took over the post from the current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February 2018.

Powell had previously served on the Central Bank Council since 2012.

Left Democrats campaigned for other candidates

The foreseeable continuity at the top of the powerful central bank should be positively received by the markets. Under Powell's leadership, the central bank switched to an extremely loose monetary policy from March 2020 due to the corona crisis. The Fed cut its key interest rate to close to zero and launched other programs to support the economy and the labor market. In the meantime, the Fed is cautiously scaling back its support in light of the economic recovery.

Some more left-wing party members, including the influential Senator Elizabeth Warren, had recently pressured the Democrats Biden not to grant Powell a second term.

Warren had criticized Powell's easing of banking regulation, most recently calling him a "dangerous man."

Many leftists therefore campaigned for Lael Brainard, who holds a doctorate in economics and has been a member of the seven-member Central Bank Council since 2014.

She is now supposed to become vice-president of the central bank.

slü / dpa