NY Fed hopes to name new chief in coming weeks

Source: Reuters

The chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Board said on Wednesday the committee searching for a new president hopes to reach a decision in the next few weeks.

"I would hope we have an announcement to make in the next several weeks," Peter Peterson, chairman of the New York Fed board, told Reuters. Peterson also heads the search committee that is looking for a successor.

The directors of the board had to speed up their search after retiring President William McDonough accepted a job last week to head a new national accounting watchdog body, bringing forward his retirement date to late May from mid-July.

The president of the New York Fed is one of the most important positions in the Federal Reserve System, since the bank acts as the central bank's eyes and ears on Wall Street.

Peterson said the committee was interviewing potential candidates this week. Its recommendation is subject to approval by the Fed Board of Governors in Washington.

Among candidates said to be in the running for the powerful job are Stanley Fischer, former No. 2 official at the International Monetary Fund and now chairman of Citigroup, and former New York Fed official Peter Fisher, now at Treasury.

Earlier this month, the New York Fed confirmed that McDonough plans to attend the next Fed policy meeting on May 6, before he takes up his new post.

Departing Fed bank presidents usually do not attend the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting of their tenure if they are moving to the private sector where there may be a conflict of interests. That would not be an issue in this case.

The New York Fed president is also a permanent voting member of the FOMC. The other 11 regional bank heads rotate as voting members each year.

McDonough is undergoing background checks for his new position as chairman of the Public Accounting Oversight Board, the new top regulator to police auditors.