United States

Fed Chair Talks About Working With Trump During SF Speech

Janet Yellen said the Federal Reserve will remain independent and continue to embrace technology and diversity

The economy will loom large during the new Trump administration, and the head of the Federal Reserve made it clear Wednesday that she's in charge of our money and her job.

Speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Wednesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen talked about her future relationship with a Donald Trump presidency, as well as diversity and technology.

She's determined that she and the Fed remain independent. But, she added, there's room for common ground and for new technology. Responding to recent remarks from President-elect Trump saying the Fed might be leaning left, Yellen told the audience she'll serve out her full term until 2018.

Then she played diplomat.

"Well, we share an interest in the success of the U.S. economy," she added about her relationship with Trump.

Yellen also said that no matter what the administration looks like, she wants the Fed to be more diverse.

"We are very focused on diversity of all sorts in the Fed; in our hiring and in the work we do," she said. "We really want to see women and minorities included."

And being in the tech-heavy Bay Area brought the inevitable questions about technology in the Fed, specifically virtual currency. Yellen said she's OK with bitcoin.

"It is a very important new technology that could have implications to the way in which transactions are handled in the federal system," she said.

Finally, Yellen addressed interest rates, saying nothing is for sure, but they are likely to rise in the near future, largely because the U.S. economy is so strong.

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