N.Y. Fed chief Dudley set to retire in 2018

WASHINGTON — William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a key ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, will retire in mid-2018, creating another opening in the top ranks of decision-making at the nation’s central bank.

The New York Fed’s announcement Monday followed President Donald Trump’s nomination last week of Jerome Powell to replace Yellen as chair in February and the departure last month of Stanley Fischer as vice chair. There are also three additional vacancies on the Fed’s board.

As head of the New York Fed, Dudley, 65, is a permanent voting member of the Fed policymaking committee. The committee is made up of the Fed’s seven board members and five of the 12 regional bank presidents. The other regional bank presidents vote on a rotating basis.

Trump hasn’t announced nominations for the three other board jobs, and Yellen hasn’t said whether she will remain on the board once her term as chair ends Feb. 3. Her separate term on the board runs until 2024.

The president nominates the Fed’s board members, who are subject to Senate confirmation. The 12 regional bank presidents are selected by their bank boards.

The New York Fed announced that a search committee had been formed to choose a successor to Dudley, who joined the New York Fed in 2007 after more than two decades at Goldman Sachs. Dudley succeeded Timothy Geithner as president of the New York Fed after Geithner was tapped by President Barack Obama to become Treasury secretary in 2009.