Yellen announces she’ll leave Fed after Powell is sworn in as chairman

Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen announced Monday she will step down from the central bank’s board after Jerome Powell is sworn in as her replacement.

Yellen told President Trump in a Monday letter that she would leave the central bank after Powell, a Fed governor, is sworn in as the new chairman of the Fed.

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Yellen has served as chairwoman since 2014 and joined the Fed board as vice chairwoman in 2010. She was previously the president of the San Francisco Fed.

Yellen wrote that she was “enormously proud” to have worked with many “dedicated and highly able” men and women, singling out her predecessor Ben Bernanke.

She also praised the Fed’s role in helping dig out the United States economy from the 2008 recession and implementing stricter financial rules prompted by the crisis.

Yellen’s term as chairwoman expires in February and Powell is expected to be easily confirmed.

Yellen could have chosen to stay with the Fed as a governor until her term on the Fed board ends in January 2024. Former Fed chairmen who are not renominated to lead the bank typically leave once their successor is sworn in.

Trump was a fierce critic of Yellen and the Fed during his 2016 presidential campaign, accusing her of keeping interest rates low to artificially boost the economy.

But as the stock market rallied and economic indicators remained positive after his election, Trump turned into a fan of the Fed chairwoman.

He interviewed her along with other candidates for the job two weeks ago.