Trump to announce Bowman soon as pick for Fed’s top bank cop

President Donald Trump will nominate Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman to be the central bank’s next vice chair for supervision as soon as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The move fills a post vacated by Michael Barr, who was picked by former President Joe Biden and resigned from that job earlier this year – avoiding a potential fight with Trump over the role. Barr said in January “the risk of a dispute over the position could be a distraction from our mission.”

The vice chair for supervision must be a member of the Fed’s board and since Barr didn’t step down from his role on the Fed’s Board of Governors, Trump has to choose a replacement from among the remaining board members or wait for a new vacancy.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the plan to replace Barr with Bowman.

Bowman was a strong critic of the U.S. regulators’ plan to force the country’s biggest lenders to hold significantly more capital to buffer against losses and a financial crisis. The industry had argued that the original proposal unveiled in 2023 would put U.S. banks at a disadvantage against international rivals.

Her nomination to serve as vice chair for supervision would have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

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—With assistance from Christopher Condon and Reade Pickert.