Ex-Fed chief Bernanke to advise hedge fund

NEW YORK — Another former Federal Reserve chairman is hooking up with Wall Street. Ben Bernanke is joining Citadel as a senior advisor consulting on monetary policy, financial markets and the global economy.

The news that Bernanke would join the $25 billion hedge fund, was first reported by The New York Times.

Bernanke led the Fed from February 2006 until his departure in January 2014, when current Fed chair Janet Yellen assumed the job. Bernanke's stewardship took place during the Great Recession and its aftermath.

There is a precedent for Bernanke's chosen path to Wall Street. Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who preceded Bernanke in the role, joined the Paulson & Co. hedge fund as an advisor in 2008.

Bernanke has kept a public life since he left the Fed. As a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution, he recently started responding to critics of his Fed policy in a new blog. He also has been working on a book about the 2007-09 financial crisis and the events that followed which will be published by W. W. Norton this fall.

Bernanke told the Times he was "sensitive to the public's anxieties about the "revolving door" between Wall Street and Washington," adding that Citadel isn't regulated by the Fed and that he would not be doing any lobbying.

Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of Citadel, said in a statement that Bernanke "has extraordinary knowledge of the global economy and his insights on monetary policy and the capital markets will be extremely valuable to our team and to our investors."

In the same release, Bernanke called Citadel is "a dynamic firm with tremendously talented people and a rigorous approach to research and investing. I look forward to adding my perspective on a range of issues affecting our global economy."