July 22 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman on Tuesday said the central bank's ability to set monetary policy without political interference is "very important."
"It's very important ... that we maintain our independence with respect to monetary policy," Bowman said in a CNBC interview ahead of a day-long conference she is hosting at the Fed on bank regulation.
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"But we also, as part of that independence, have an obligation for transparency and accountability as well. But we also have an obligation, in my view, as we have throughout my time on the board here since 2018, to listen to a broad range of voices to understand how others are viewing the economy and how that should influence our decisions in monetary policy making."
The remarks from Bowman, appointed to the Fed Board of Governors by President Donald Trump in his first term and recently elevated by him to be the top banking regulator at the central bank, come as Trump has ramped up his criticism of the Fed and of its leader, Chair Jerome Powell, for not lowering interest rates as Trump wishes.
Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Andrew Heavens
