Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer to resign in October

Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will resign from the central bank next month, he told President Trump in a letter on Wednesday.

Fischer will step down from the Fed on or around October 13, less than a year before his term as vice chairman was to end in June 2018. 

Fischer cited “personal reasons” for his early departure, and praised his Fed colleagues for their efforts to stabilize the economy after the 2008 crisis.

{mosads}Fischer’s departure will open another spot for Trump to fill on the Fed’s board of governors.

Fed Board Chair Janet Yellen’s term also ends in July 2018, and the president is reportedly considering National Economic Council Chairman Gary Cohn to replace her. Fischer’s term as a governor of the Fed board was to last until 2020, meaning Fischer could have continued to serve past his vice chairmanship.

Trump has also nominated former Treasury Department official Randal Quarles to serve at the Fed’s vice chairman for supervision, which would have extensive influence over the administration’s efforts to rollback the Dodd-Frank Act.. The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote on Quarles’ nomination Thursday.

Fischer is a former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with decades of experience in the private and public sectors. He served as the president of the International Monetary Fund, chief economist at the World Bank, the vice Chairman of Citigroup and governor of the Bank of Israel before his confirmation to the Fed board in 2014.

—This breaking news report will be updated.