Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren said Monday that he will retire this week and disclosed that he has qualified for a kidney transplant.
Rosengren's announcement also comes after investments by him and other Fed officials last year have raised questions about the Fed's ethics rules. Rosengren had already planned to retire in June when he reached the Fed's mandatory retirement age, but decided to retire Thursday to focus on his health.
Rosengren has worked at the Boston Fed for 35 years and spent the last 14 as president. During the pandemic, the Boston Fed oversaw the Main Street Lending program, the Fed's first attempt since the Great Depression to provide loans directly to small businesses. The Boston Fed is now researching how a digital currency issued by the Fed might work.
“Eric brought a relentless focus on how best to ensure the stability of the financial system," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. "My colleagues and I will miss him.”
Rosengren's financial disclosures for 2020 revealed that he had engaged in stock trading last year even as the Fed bought hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds to lower interest rates and spur the economy. He also invested in real estate funds that purchased mortgage-backed bonds of the same type the Fed itself was also purchasing.
