AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, left, and Randal Quarles, vice chair for supervision, gather their things at the end of a Federal Reserve Board meeting to discuss proposed rules to modify the enhanced prudential standard framework for large banking organizations, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington.
- Interest rates are set through a voting system on the Federal Open Market Committee.
- That group consists of Fed governors and leaders of central bank branches across the country.
- Officials tend to be labeled as dovish or hawkish, depending on how much they focus on inflation or employment.
President Donald Trump often blames his monetary policy frustrations on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. But interest rates are determined by a group of central bankers, not by Powell alone.
Members of the Federal Open Market Committee typically meet eight times a year to vote on the federal funds rate. Seven individuals on the Board of Governors always vote - there are currently two of these seats open that Trump is planning nominations for.
Fed presidents from across the country take turns on the FOMC each year, though the New York bank's leader always votes.
Here's who will be on the committee through 2021 and how they tend to view monetary policy, according to analysis by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Inflation doves are seen as more concerned about employment than rising prices, while hawkish officials tend to favor higher interest rates.
Skye Gould/Business Insider
Governors
Presidents
- John C. Williams, New York, Vice Chairman
- James Bullard, St. Louis
- Charles L. Evans, Chicago
- Esther L. George, Kansas City
- Eric Rosengren, Boston
- Patrick Harker, Philadelphia
- Robert S. Kaplan, Dallas
- Neel Kashkari, Minneapolis
- Loretta J. Mester, Cleveland
- Michael Strine, First Vice President, New York
- Marcy C. Daly, San Francisco
- Raphael Bostic, Atlanta
- Tom Barkin, Richmond