Barack Obama will nominate Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the US central bank, the White House has announced.


Mrs Yellen would be the first woman to head the powerful Fed, taking over at a pivotal time for the economy and the banking industry.
Both Mrs Yellen and Mr Bernanke are scheduled to appear with Mr Obama at the White House on Wednesday for a formal announcement.
Mr Bernanke's term ends in January, completing a remarkable eight-year tenure in which he helped pull the US economy out of the worst financial crisis and recession since the 1930s.
Under Mr Bernanke's leadership, the Fed created extraordinary programs after the financial crisis erupted in 2008. It lent money to banks after credit markets froze, cut its key short-term interest rate to near zero and bought trillions in bonds to lower long-term borrowing rates.
Those programs are credited with helping save the US banking system.
Mrs Yellen emerged as the leading candidate after Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary whom Mr Obama was thought to favour, withdrew from consideration last month in the face of rising opposition.
Mrs Yellen, 67, would likely continue steering Fed policy in the same direction as Mr Bernanke. A close ally of the chairman, she has been a key architect of the Fed's efforts under Mr Bernanke to keep interest rates near record lows to support the economy..