The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's president Eric Rosengren. Picture: REUTERS/KEITH BEDFORD
The Boston Fed, citing a long-standing kidney condition, announced the news in a statement on Monday. It said the search was under way for his successor. The revelations prompted Fed chair Jerome Powell to ask staff to examine internal ethics rules around financial holdings and activities by senior Fed officials to identify “ways to further tighten those rules and standards”.
The trading activity by Rosengren and Kaplan was scrutinised for the potential conflict of interest at a time when the Fed is already under fire for emergency pandemic policies that critics say have elevated stock prices and benefited richer Americans.Rosengren and Kaplan announced September 9 that they would both sell their individual stock holdings by September 30.
The Boston Fed said that Rosengren had told staff he qualified for the kidney transplant list in June 2020, upon the worsening of a condition he has had for many years.