Jerome Powell, current chairman of the Federal Reserve board, will see his term end in 2026. A possible replacement for Powell is Fed board member Michelle Bowman, a President Trump-aligned conservative who Trump has now elevated to a role even more directly overseeing banking regulation.
In March 2025, Trump nominated Bowman as the Fed’s vice chair of supervision to oversee financial regulation. Bowman was confirmed to the position by a narrow 48-46 Senate vote on June 4, and she assumed office on June 6.
In her Senate confirmation hearing back in April 2025, Bowman indicated she intended to take a more tailored and hands-off approach to regulating financial institutions. Bowman, who comes from a family of community bankers (and previously worked at her family’s Farmers & Drovers Bank), has also shown interest in issues facing community banks.
In prepared remarks on June 6 after taking office, Bowman expressed interest in revisiting banking regulations implemented after the 2008 financial crisis.
“A number of the changes were backward looking—responding only to that mortgage crisis—not fully considering the potential future unintended consequences or future states of the world,” said Bowman. “Adding requirements that impose more costs must be balanced with whether the new requirements make the correct tradeoffs between safety and soundness and enabling banks to serve their customers and run their businesses.”
Bowman added that “one easily identifiable way” to maintain relevance of regulations is the review process enabled through the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act. This process, most recently initiated in February 2024, is designed to every 10 years “identify, with input from the public, outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations and consider how to reduce regulatory burden on insured depository institutions.”
Previously in a November 2024 speech, Bowman said that community banks are experiencing challenges including staffing and retention, competition from entities such as large banks or credit unions, cybersecurity, third-party management and consumer compliance.
“Regulators have, at times, exacerbated these challenges through policy choices,” said Bowman, who then listed solutions such as adjusting bank size thresholds in regulations and taking an overall more tailored approach.
Bowman’s lighter-touch regulatory agenda has found an opponent in Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that oversees matters of banking. In a speech opposing Bowman’s confirmation, Warren said:
“During her tenure (on the Fed board), (Bowman) has consistently prioritized Wall Street over Main Street. She has weakened safeguards on the largest banks in the country and has opposed common sense rules to promote financial stability, protect consumers and drive investment in communities across the country.”
It remains to be seen what steps Bowman will actually implement in her new role and if Trump will indeed nominate her to succeed Powell. Trump and Powell have had an acrimonious relationship since Trump again took office.
Trump, in messages shared on social media, has pushed Powell and the Fed to cut interest rates, while the Fed Board has taken a more cautious approach—driven in part by Trump’s proposed tariffs—and maintained its independence. Powell and the president most recently met in June 2025 to discuss economic developments.
Trump has said that he has no intention of trying to fire Powell, and Powell himself said back in November 2024 that he wouldn’t resign on Trump’s request. Powell’s term as a Fed board member ends on Jan. 31, 2028, after his chairmanship ends in 2026. Powell has not confirmed if he will stay on after his term as chair ends.
