Kevin Warsh, Rick Rieder…: Who are the frontrunners to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair?

The search for a new Fed chair is nearing its end, with US President Donald Trump expected to announce a successor of Jerome Powell in the coming weeks.

Powell's term as Federal Reserve chairman will end in May, but he is not obligated to leave the Washington-based Board of Governors until 2028, news agency Reuters reported.

The high-stakes search also comes at a time when the Fed chair is at the center of a criminal investigation related to his June testimony before Congress about the costs of a Federal reserve building renovation — an inquiry that Powell has publicly denounced as politically motivated pressure over the Fed's refusal to cut interest rates.

— Kevin Hassett, White House National Economic Director: A long-time conservative economist and key economic adviser to Trump. Hassett, 63, is a Trump loyalist who has consistently defended the President's economic policies, downplaying data showing signs of weakness in the US economy and has echoed allegations of bias at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

— Kevin Warsh, former Fed official: He served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011. Warsh has been an outspoken Fed critic, attacking the central bank's heavy reliance on data to its use of assets on its balance sheet, BBC said. Though known for his “hawkish” stance, who favoured higher rates while in office, he is now seen as more supportive of lower rates in the near term.

— Christopher Waller, Fed Governor: He is the current Fed official, who was nominated for the position by Trump in 2020. Waller has also recently stressed that the Fed has room to lower interest rates even further, aligning with Trump's demands. However, unlike Hassett and Warsh, he lacks the personal ties to get to the top of Trump's list, according to BBC.

— Rick Rieder, BlackRock executive: He has a long career on Wall Street, and also grabbed Trump’s attention with his ideas for overhauling the Fed, according to Bloomberg. Another aspect that gives Rieder an edge is that he has never worked at the Fed, unlike the other three finalists for the job. This makes people view him as not being beholden to the institution.

As tensions amid Powell's investigation flare up, the next Fed chair is likely to face a challenging environment. The central bank is dealing with both political pressure as well as internal disagreement about how it should set interest rates in the months ahead.

Trump has also made it clear that he wants lower borrowing costs, putting extreme pressure on the Fed's independence, which is vital for stable monetary policy. Some economists and market participants worry that political interference in fed's decisions could blur the line between political aims and central bank policy.