Trump to Nominate Ex-Fed Economist to Bank's Board -- 3rd Update
September 19 2018 - 9:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Timiraos and Michael C. Bender
WASHINGTON -- President Trump will nominate Nellie Liang, a
former Federal Reserve economist who created its first office of
financial stability, to the central bank's board of governors, the
White House said Wednesday.
In 2010, then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke tapped Ms. Liang to form
the office to oversee risks in the financial system in the wake of
the 2008 crisis. Today, that operation is as large as the Fed's
long-dominant division of monetary affairs.
Ms. Liang joined the Fed in 1986 as a research economist and
left the central bank in 2017. Since then, she has served as a
senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and
as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund. Ms. Liang is a
registered Democrat.
In early 2009, Ms. Liang helped lead the government's first
round of bank stress tests that helped settle market fears about
the resilience of the U.S.'s biggest banks.
Last year, she pushed back against criticism that the Fed's
exceptionally easy money policies after the financial crisis had
harmed the banking sector and made the financial system more
fragile.
"The evidence indicates that extraordinary monetary policies
have improved financial stability, including the resilience of
banks, not undermined it," she said in a speech at the American
Enterprise Institute.
Ms. Liang, 60, received her Ph.D. from the University of
Maryland and her undergraduate degree in economics from the
University of Notre Dame.
Ms. Liang didn't respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.
A Fed spokeswoman declined to comment.
Mr. Trump has nominated five other individuals to the Fed's
seven-seat board. Three have been confirmed by the Senate: Chairman
Jerome Powell, Vice Chairman Richard Clarida and Randal Quarles,
the vice chairman for bank supervision.
The Senate has yet to confirm two other nominees. These are
Marvin Goodfriend, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University, and
Michelle Bowman, the banking commissioner of Kansas.
With Ms. Liang's nomination, Mr. Trump will have no more board
vacancies to fill before 2020 if the Senate confirms all his
nominees.
Mr. Trump expressed annoyance this summer with the Fed's recent
short-term rate increases. The central bank raised its benchmark
rate in June to a range between 1.75% and 2% and is expected to
lift it by a quarter-percentage-point at its two-day meeting next
week.
Mr. Trump has largely nominated Fed candidates who are
considered nonideological and pragmatic policy hands. Messrs.
Powell and Quarles served in the Treasury Department under
President George H.W. Bush. Messrs. Clarida and Quarles served in
the Treasury for President George W. Bush.
Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com and Michael C.
Bender at Mike.Bender@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2018 21:35 ET (01:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.