US Senate confirms Jerome Powell as next Fed chairman

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Washington: US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

In a bipartisan vote of 85-12, senators approved Powell to lead the central bank in a term of four years. Powell is to succeed current Fed chair Janet Yellen, when her terms expire on February 3, reports Xinhua.

Powell who is currently a member of the Fed`s Board of Governors, was nominated by President Donald Trump in November last year.

At his confirmation hearing in November last year, Powell said that he would support the central bank to gradually tighten monetary policy, while ease regulatory burdens on some financial institutions. 

Powell previously served as undersecretary at the Treasury Department in the George H W Bush administration, with responsibility for policy on financial institutions and the Treasury debt market.

Following the public service, he became a partner at the Carlyle Group from 1997 through 2005. He was nominated by the President Barack Obama as Fed governor in 2012.