Obama to nominate 3 new Fed governors

By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama plans to nominate three new governors to the Federal Reserve, the White House announced Thursday.

Obama will nominate San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen to serve as vice chairman of the central bank. And the two vacancies on the seven-member board would be filled by Sarah Raskin, the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation, and Peter Diamond, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The depth of experience these individuals bring in economic and monetary policy, financial regulation, and consumer protection will make them tremendous assets at the Fed," the President said in a statement. "I am grateful they have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people."

The members of the Fed board of governors and select Fed presidents from around the country set monetary policy, including interest rates, as part of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Yellen, who has been considered one of the more influential presidents of the Fed's 12 district banks, will succeed Donald Kohn, who will retire on June 23. Yellen would be the second woman to hold the position.

All three will need to be confirmed by the Senate. And while Fed board nominations are typically not contentious, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was only confirmed by a historically small margin earlier this year.

If the three are confirmed, Obama will have named a majority of the Fed's board of governors. There were two vacancies when the president took office, and he filled one of those positions earlier.

Yellen's priority to promote economic growth over maintaining price stability is likely to be popular with members of the Senate who will vote on her nomination.

Raskin and Diamond will fill the remaining opening and replace Gov. Frederic Mishkin, who resigned at the end of August. To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.