Stanley Fischer, who led the Bank of Israel for eight years until he stepped down in June, has been asked to be the Federal Reserve's next vice chair once Janet Yellen takes over as chief of the U.S. central bank, a source familiar with the issue said on Wednesday.
Fischer, 70, is widely respected as one of the world's top monetary economists. He is seen as a pragmatic policymaker and has praised the Fed's extraordinary steps to boost the U.S. economy. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he once taught current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank president.
Yellen, the Fed's vice chair, is expected to win approval from the U.S. Senate next week to take the reins from Bernanke, whose term ends in January.
Fischer, who was born in Zambia and has Israeli and U.S. dual citizenship, would also need Senate approval if he accepts the offer from the White House. "He's been offered the job" said the source, who declined to be named.
Source: Reuters
