The pool of candidates for the Federal Reserve Chair has expanded from 4 to 11, covering the White House, the Federal Reserve, and Wall Street

According to reports from media on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump is currently considering up to 11 candidates for the Federal Reserve Chair, which also means that the next Federal Reserve Chair, who will take office in May 2026, may not necessarily come from the current Federal Reserve Board or White House economic policy officials. The likelihood of this influential figure, whose every move will affect global financial markets, coming from top asset management firms on Wall Street is increasingly high.

According to media reports, the list of Federal Reserve Chair nominees currently under consideration by Trump includes David Zervos, Chief Market Strategist at Jefferies; Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income at BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm; and Larry Lindsey, a former Federal Reserve Board member, among 11 candidates.

Other candidates include Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council, Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve Board member, Christopher Waller, a current Federal Reserve Board member, Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan, former St. Louis Federal Reserve President Jim Bullard, and Mark Summers, a former economic advisor from the Bush administration. The specific list beyond these candidates has not yet been disclosed. According to media reports last week, among these candidates, Waller has the highest recognition in the U.S. economics community.

According to media reports, two U.S. government officials stated that current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will interview each Federal Reserve Chair candidate. He will optimize the list of Federal Reserve Chair candidates based on these interviews and, after consulting with other White House officials, will submit a narrowed-down list to President Trump for a final decision. Just a week ago, Trump indicated that he was actively considering four candidates for the Federal Reserve Chair, and this list has now significantly expanded.

Analysts have stated that the expansion of the candidate list indicates that Trump's nomination decision is not urgent. Current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's term will expire at the end of May 2026, and Trump has made it clear that he will not seek reappointment for this six-year chair term. Media reports indicate that the White House has not provided a specific timeline for making a nomination decision.

As the timeline seems to stretch, the so-called "shadow Federal Reserve Chair" threat is diminishing—under this scenario, the nominee to succeed Powell may express their own views on policy, thereby undermining Powell's leadership. If the nominee has already served on the Federal Reserve Board, it will be even more disruptive to market expectations for interest rate cuts.

For Wall Street investment firms, their eagerness to understand the main logic behind the Federal Reserve Chair nominee is due to the fact that this nomination concerns who will ultimately be the "shadow Federal Reserve Chair" before Powell's term ends.

The concept of "shadow Federal Reserve Chair," which is currently popular in the financial field, was proposed by Treasury Secretary Bessent, who advocated for the early appointment of the next chair, allowing this "quasi-Federal Reserve Chair" to speak publicly, participate in policy communication, and manage expectations during Powell's remaining term, thereby weakening Powell's influence and proactively securing monetary policy control with a dovish tone for Trump's economic agenda Besant believes that this "shadow Fed chair" provides enough forward guidance on monetary policy to make the market "less concerned about Powell's words."