Randal Quarles

The new vice chair for supervision selected a career Federal Reserve staffer to oversee the implementation of his supervisory and regulatory policies. Progressives had been urging him to pick an outsider for the position.

The president has a chance to make his mark on the central bank as the terms of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles near their end. He will face pressure from progressives to pick reform-minded leaders, while moderate Democrats and Republicans in the narrowly divided Senate might favor reappointing Powell.

Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles says the benefits of a central bank digital currency are “unclear,” and that a digital dollar could actually “pose significant and concrete risks.”

Randal Quarles, the Federal Reserve's vice chair for supervision, says the central bank was wise not to require banks to build capital cushions in the lead-up to the pandemic. But that decision rested on a misleading a narrative and could wind up threatening the economic recovery.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles suggested that the massive influx of reserves stemming from the central bank's COVID-19 response may lead to a recalibration of the supplementary leverage ratio.

The Federal Reserve's Randal Quarles, in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, sought to fend off criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren that the central bank treated with kid gloves some foreign banks under its jurisdiction that later took heavy losses. The hearing also featured a discussion about a new framework for digital assets.

During a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Democrats largely praised the policy decisions of acting regulators named by the Biden administration and knocked their predecessors. But Republicans warned that moves to reverse Trump-era policies would leave financial institutions without a clear road map.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Randal Quarles has made it clear that banks failing to make the transition away from the benchmark rate could face supervisory consequences.

The Federal Reserve's top supervisory official, Randal Quarles, says regulators need to get a stronger grasp of digital currencies in order to supervise them. His comments Thursday follow reports that several large banks have started offering clients the ability to invest in bitcoin funds.

The central bank should consider using a tool requiring higher capital amounts when times are good rather than offering temporary regulatory relief in a downturn, said Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren.