US Senate confirms Powell as next Federal Reserve chairman

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed former investment banker Jerome Powell as head of the Federal Reserve, putting President Donald Trump’s pick in a role of enormous influence over the world’s largest economy.

Powell, a current Fed governor, was confirmed by a vote of 85-12, paving the way for him to replace current chief Janet Yellen when she steps down next month.

In choosing to replace Yellen, Trump dismantled another piece of his predecessor Barack Obama’s legacy, making Trump the first US president in nearly 40 years not to reappoint the incumbent Fed chair.

Analysts say Powell’s appointment offered Trump the chance both to remove an Obama appointee, while also signalling to markets that he favoured continuity with the slow and deliberate rate increases that had won Yellen plaudits at the end of her term.

In addition to being a Democrat and the first female chief of the US central bank, Yellen was also a defender of the regulations enacted following the financial crisis – putting her at odds with the current White House’s deregulation agenda.

In promoting Powell to the Fed leadership, Trump takes another step toward remolding the central bank in his image, with four vacancies on the Fed’s board of governors yet to be filled.

Powell, 64, had already been through the Senate confirmation process before becoming a Fed governor in 2012. Since then, he has never dissented from any of the central bank’s monetary decisions. – AFP