Former Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer is the top choice to become vice chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank, it was reported Wednesday.

According to the Wall Street Journal and Israel’s Channel 2 news, the White House was close to nominating Fischer, who resigned from the Bank of Israel earlier this year, to be Janet Yellen’s second in command at the US’s central bank.

The US Senate is expected to give the green light to Yellen next week, in which case she and Fischer would take over in January.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

“He’s been offered the job,” an anonymous source familiar with the issue told Reuters.

Fischer served as Bank of Israel governor from 2005 to 2013, and was credited with successfully steering the country through the global financial downturn.

In January, Fischer submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He told Netanyahu he wanted to step down in April, but the prime minister convinced him to delay the resignation until June. His term was originally set to end in 2015.

His name was touted as a possible choice to take over the Fed chairmanship from Ben Bernanke earlier in the year, but Yellen got the nod.

Fischer, 70, was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and lived in Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) before his family moved to the United States. He served as the chief economist at the World Bank in the late 1980s and as first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund from 1994 to 2001.

He moved to Israel in 2005 to take over Israel’s Central Bank and left the country for the US after resigning in June. He was succeeded by Karnit Flug.