US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to nominate Dan Katz, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s chief-of-staff, to be the International Monetary Fund’s number two official, according to people familiar with the matter.
The announcement of Katz’s nomination may come from the IMF as soon as Wednesday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a decision that hasn’t been made public. The people cautioned that the pick could still change at the last minute.
Katz would replace Gita Gopinath, who stepped down at the end of last month. That opening gave Trump an opportunity to name her replacement and put his stamp on the global crisis lender. Katz has served as Bessent’s chief-of-staff since January.
Katz is a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.and veteran of the US Treasury Department in Trump’s first term. He received his law degree from New York University School of Law and his bachelor’s from Yale College, according to a biography from the Manhattan Institute, where he was previously a senior fellow.
The White House, Katz, the IMF and the Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The New York Post earlier reported the administration’s plans to nominate Katz to the role.
The IMF’s top deputy is usually nominated by the US and appointed by the organisation’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva. Gopinath replaced Trump nominee Geoffrey Okamoto, who served in the role for less than two years.
The IMF has a global lending war chest of as much as US$1 trillion available for almost 200 member countries when they face balance of payments crises.
Separately, Georgieva named Nigel Chalk as the director of the fund’s Western Hemisphere Department. The job in recent years has usually been held by a former top finance or central banking official from Latin America and often leads IMF work with Argentina, the fund’s biggest borrower.
Chalk is a longtime deputy director of the department and mission chief for the US, the IMF’s largest shareholder.
by Eric Martin, Bloomberg
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