Randal K. Quarles, vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “Oversight of Financial Regulators” on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 5, 2019.
Erin Scott | Reuters
Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles said he is stepping down from his post around the end of the year, an announcement that comes a little over a month after ending his run as the Fed’s supervisor of the banking system.
The move was not unexpected but became official Monday and will be effective “during or around the last week of December,” Quarles said in a letter to President Joe Biden.
Though his actual term on the board of governors does not expire for another 11 years, Quarles announced he is walking away from his position as governor. He also had held the special supervisory role that was established to address some of the conditions that led to the 2008-09 financial crisis.
“It has been a great privilege to work with my colleagues on the Board, throughout the Federal Reserve System, and among the global central banking and regulatory community,” Quarles wrote.
Quarles was named to the board in October 2017 to fill a term that expired the following year. He subsequently was reappointed to a term that would have ran out in 2032.
In recent weeks, he has become a lightning rod for criticism from some of the more progressive congressional leaders. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been one of the more vocal critics, faulting Quarles and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for loosening the regulations that were put in place following the financial crisis.
Quarles was the first vice chair for supervision since the Dodd-Frank reforms went into effect. That term ended in October.
With Quarles’ resignation and the expiration of Federal Open Market Committee Vice Chairman Richard Clarida’s term on Jan. 31, 2022, Biden will have the opportunity to remake the Fed.
Governor Lael Brainard has been mentioned frequently as a potential successor to Quarles as head of supervision.
In addition to the Quarles vacancy, there is still one other opening on the seven-member board of governors, and Powell’s term as chairman expires in February.
Regional presidents Robert Kaplan of Dallas and Eric Rosengren of Boston resigned after being embroiled in a controversy over Fed officials trading stocks and bonds while implementing policies that influenced financial markets.
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