Federal Reserve reappoints all regional bank presidents

The Board of the Fed has reappointed all regional Fed bank presidents, just days after the Trump administration began floating major changes to the process.

The board of the Federal Reserve System said Thursday that it had reappointed all regional Fed bank presidents, just days after the Trump administration began suggesting that it wanted to make major changes to the reappointment process.

Regional bank presidents in the Fed's 12 districts across the country wield nearly as much influence over interest rates as the seven permanent, Senate-confirmed Fed governors do.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Dec. 3 that he planned to propose a new rule related to appointing regional Fed presidents.

"I am going to start advocating, going forward, not retroactively, that regional Fed presidents must have lived in their district for at least three years," Bessent said at a conference hosted by The New York Times' DealBook.

Bessent suggested that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the board had the authority to effectively say that "unless someone has lived in the district for three years, we’re going to veto them."