Raphael Bostic, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the first Black and openly gay person to lead one of the central bank’s 12 regional branches, will step down at the end of his term in February, the bank announced Wednesday.
Bostic, 59, has served as Atlanta Fed president since 2017, overseeing the district that spans six Southern states and includes such major financial centers as Atlanta, Nashville and New Orleans.
Raphael Bostic, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the first Black and openly gay person to lead one of the central bank’s 12 regional branches, will step down at the end of his term in February, the bank announced Wednesday.
Bostic, 59, has served as Atlanta Fed president since 2017, overseeing the district that spans six Southern states and includes such major financial centers as Atlanta, Nashville and New Orleans.
The Fed has been under pressure all year from President Donald Trump to slash interest rates to juice economic growth. Trump is also seeking to fire Federal Reserve Board governor Lisa Cook, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, over allegations she engaged in mortgage fraud. She denies the charges and is fighting to keep her job while she challenges Trump’s August attempt to fire her.
A third official, Fed governor Adriana Kugler, also a Biden appointee, abruptly left the central bank in August.
Bostic’s departure will open a key seat on the Federal Open Market Committee, the body that sets U.S. interest rates, as the central bank weighs whether to continue lowering borrowing costs when the labor market is softening but inflation remains elevated. Bostic, not a voting member of the committee, has recently expressed reluctance to continue cutting rates, saying inflation has been too high for too long.
“It’s been my distinct honor and privilege to lead the Atlanta Fed for these past eight and a half years,” Bostic said in a statement, which didn’t cite a reason for his retirement.
The Atlanta Fed’s Board of Directors will lead the search for his successor, subject to approval by the Fed’s Board of Governors in Washington.
The Fed’s internal watchdog found last year that Bostic violated the central bank’s rules around financial disclosures and trading activity, but said there was no evidence that Bostic made trades based on confidential information or acted on financial conflicts of interest.
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