Powell Says Diversity a ‘Big Focus’ for Boston, Dallas Fed Jobs

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said diversity will play a key role in deciding who fills the top jobs at the Boston and Dallas regional Fed banks, whose current presidents are stepping down following criticism of their trading activity.

“I can absolutely guarantee you that we will work hard in both of these processes to find and give a fair shot to diverse candidates for those two jobs,” Powell said Thursday in a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. “It’ll be a big focus of both of those processes.”

The presidents of the two Fed banks on Monday separately announced plans to take early retirement following criticism of their financial-market trading activity last year. Each bank’s board of directors will select a replacement candidate, which must then be approved by the Fed’s Board of Governors in Washington.

In the Fed’s 107-year history, just one regional bank president has been Black, the current leader of the Atlanta Fed, while no Hispanic American has led one of the 12 branches and only two Asian Americans have. 

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