Federal Reserve's Kohn to step down in June

Donald Kohn, vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve System, has tendered his resignation from the US central bank’s board of governors and will step down when his term expires on June 23.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Kohn – who has been a member of the Fed board since August 2002 and served as its vice-chairman since June 2006 – defended the actions of chairman Ben Bernanke in taking extraordinary steps to combat the financial crisis and ensuing recession.

“Staff and policymakers