Geithner still not interested in being Fed chair: Source

Washington: Former US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is still not interested in being the next head the Federal Reserve, a source familiar with his thinking said on Sunday, after front-runner Lawrence Summers withdrew his name from consideration.

The source, who declined to be identified, said Geithner remains firm in the view that he expressed back in January, when he stepped down from his post at Treasury, that the next Fed chair will be "someone else's privilege."

Former White House advisor Summers unexpectedly withdrew his name from consideration for the Fed job on Sunday, which President Barack Obama accepted.

Summers' decision followed a bitter campaign mounted by members of his own Democratic Party against his nomination, based on criticism of his support for banking deregulation and comments in the past they viewed as sexist.

Geithner is a close Obama confident who has been persistently talked about by Fed watchers as a candidate to replace Ben Bernanke, the U.S. central bank's current chief, when his term expires in January.

This speculation has refused to die, despite Geithner's public comment to the contrary, and the fact that he is writing a book about his time in office.

Reuters