Fed’s Randal Quarles to Resign at End of Year

Federal Reserve governor Randal Quarles said Monday he would resign his position around the end of this year, giving President Biden as many as four seats to fill on the central bank’s seven-member board in the coming months as he weighs how to fill the top job of Fed chairman.

The resignation this year was largely expected because Mr. Quarles’s term as vice chairman had lapsed last month and because his term leading a separate international regulatory body, the Financial Stability Board, expires next month.

His seat on the Fed’s board would have allowed him to remain as a governor until 2032.

In a two-sentence letter to Mr. Biden released by the Fed on Monday, Mr. Quarles said his resignation was because of the completion of his term as vice chairman.

Mr. Biden inherited one vacancy on the Fed’s board when he became president, and there could be at least one more after Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida’s term expires in January.

Mr. Quarles’s resignation removes a potential obstacle if Mr. Biden chooses to reappoint Mr. Powell, a Republican. That is because some liberal critics have opposed his reappointment on the grounds that it would deny Democrats the opportunity to control at least half the slots on the Fed’s board.

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