Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent narrows Fed chair search to 5 candidates

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reduced the crowded field for the Federal Reserve chair down to five contenders after a series of long interviews, some running for two ￰0￱ cut from 11 candidates to 5, announced late this week, marks the most important step yet in a process that will stretch into early next ￰1￱ next Fed leader could be nominated by January, though officials stressed that the person may first be named as a governor before being elevated to ￰2￱ five names left are Michelle Bowman, who is the Fed’s Vice Chair for Supervision, Christopher Waller, a Fed governor, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Warsh, who served as a Fed governor in the past, and Rick Rieder, chief investment officer for fixed income at ￰3￱ names will now face another round of questioning in the weeks ￰4￱ Bessent prepares more interviews with candidates Scott will personally lead the next round of interviews, joined by two top Treasury officials and two senior White House ￰5￱ plan is to speak again with each candidate before the end of the ￰6￱ the calendar is ￰7￱ week Scott attends the World Bank and IMF meetings in ￰8￱ that he travels to Asia with President Donald Trump for a long overseas ￰9￱ of this schedule, officials said the interviews might not be completed until after ￰10￱ the interviews are done, Scott intends to deliver a smaller list of finalists directly to ￰11￱ president will then make the final ￰12￱ noted the process could unfold in ￰13￱ nominee could first take a governor’s seat before later being named as ￰14￱ decision depends on which seats are ￰15￱ Powell’s chairmanship ends in May, but the governor’s seat he holds carries only two years ￰16￱ seat, once held by Adriana Kugler and now filled by Stephen Miran, expires in January and comes with a full 14‑year ￰17￱ the new Fed leader into that spot could give the administration more time and stability, but officials warned that nothing is settled ￰18￱ has already labeled Warsh, Hassett, and Waller as finalists in earlier ￰19￱ means Bowman and Rieder are the only fresh names being moved forward to the White ￰20￱ to past administrations, this one has kept the process more open, revealing the pool of names publicly as it ￰21￱ political fight around the Fed is sharper than ￰22￱ has demanded steep rate cuts and repeatedly attacked the Fed for not moving fast ￰23￱ has also threatened to fire Powell outright and went further when he dismissed Fed governor Lisa Cook, accusing her of mortgage ￰24￱ denied those allegations, and lower courts blocked the ￰25￱ case now heads to the Supreme Court in ￰26￱ drama over Cook has deepened questions about whether the White House respects the Fed’s independence, making the decision on the next chair a high‑stakes ￰27￱ Rieder makes an impression on Scott Bessent Treasury officials also outlined what Scott is seeking in the next Fed ￰28￱ said he wants someone open to new ideas in running monetary policy, and someone with experience in economics, regulation, and ￰29￱ has already written an essay blasting the Fed for getting too large and for what he called “mission creep.” In that piece, he called for reviews of the central bank’s mission, tools, and ￰30￱ argued the Fed should scale back and reduce its reliance on policies like quantitative ￰31￱ emphasized that no single candidate is ahead right now.

Still, they admitted that Rick Rieder caught Scott’s ￰32￱ is well known in markets, often appearing on CNBC to discuss bonds and central bank ￰33￱ BlackRock, he oversees one of the largest fixed income teams in the ￰34￱ detailed analysis of the Fed is widely followed by ￰35￱ factor working in his favor is that he is the only candidate who has never worked at the ￰36￱ officials suggested that could help him bring an outside view into an institution often seen as too ￰37￱ administration’s process now moves into the next round of talks, interviews, and ￰38￱ Powell’s term ending in May and Miran’s seat expiring in January, the decisions made over the coming weeks will set the direction of the Fed for years to ￰39￱ your project in front of crypto’s top minds?

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