NEW YORK - THE New York Federal Reserve will likely short-cut its usually lengthy search for a new president given the widening financial crisis, and may quickly focus on the least-controversial candidates to replace Mr Timothy Geithner.

Given the extraordinary circumstances, economists said the Fed likely will consider only people well-known to the US.

Federal Reserve system such as senior New York Fed official William Dudley or Mr Kevin Warsh, who serves on the Washington-based Board of Governors.

'We are moving ahead with prudent expedition,' Mr Stephen Friedman, chairman of the New York Fed's board of directors, told Reuters.

The New York Fed is the most important of the 12 regional Fed banks. It serves as the US central bank's most direct link to Wall Street as well as its chief crisis manager.

Mr Geithner, named by President-elect Barack Obama on Monday as his choice for Treasury Secretary, played a leading role in the talks to rescue financial firms Bear Stearns, AIG and Citigroup. He has also been criticised for his role in allowing Lehman Brothers to fail, which touched off a financial panic.

Mr Friedman will form a search committee to find a replacement for Mr Geithner, who joined the Fed from the International Monetary Fund.

Searches for regional Fed presidents are often lengthy processes. Indeed, Mr Geithner's appointment in October 2003 came four months after his predecessor William McDonough stepped down.

'In times past, both at the New York Fed and other regional banks it has been a matter of leisure. But this is an unusual situation,' said Mr Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

Faced with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, it is likely the New York Fed's board of directors will work closely with the central bank's Washington-based Board of Governors to speed up the selection and approval process, analysts said.

The pressure to move fast 'might rule out some of the less obvious choices that would come up only with long periods of digging around', Mr Stanley said.

Some names that have been touted are Mr Dudley, who was a former Goldman Sachs economist before joining the New York Fed, and Mr Warsh, a liaison to financial markets for the Fed board.

'If there's one person who has very solid credentials through this period in a quiet role, it's Bill Dudley, who came to the New York Fed from Wall Street and was very well respected as an economist. No one would argue about Dudley's credentials,' said Mr David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors.

Mr Dudley, who is in charge of the Fed's market operations that are used to manage the central bank's interest-rate target, works directly with the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Mr Kotok noted, meaning he is also a known entity in Washington.

'There is no question he would be easily approved. There is no controversy I know of about Dudley,' said Mr Kotok.

Mr Cary Leahey, an economist at Decision Economics in New York, agreed.

'The guessing would be that people would move up and that markets chief William Dudley would move up to the top job,' Mr Leahey said. 'That said, it's not certain who Geithner would take along with him to Washington.'

Mr Warsh, who has played a big role in the Fed's recent crisis-management efforts, would also meet the criteria of being easily approved, Mr Kotok said.

Other names said to be in the mix include New York Fed First Vice-President Christine Cumming, the No. 2 official at the bank; Mr Terrence Checki, who heads the bank's emerging markets team; JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive Jamie Dimon, who sits on the board; and Mr Dino Kos, who ran the New York Fed's markets desk before Mr Dudley and is now at research firm Portales Partners.

Mr Ernest Patrikis, a partner at law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and a former first vice-president at the New York Fed, said he believes the most likely candidate would be someone with a strong connection to the market.

'The New York Fed will pick who it wants, it always does. Time pressure shouldn't change that,' Mr Patrikis said.

RBS' Stanley said, however, that it may be difficult to find someone on Wall Street who 'doesn't have so-called blood on their hands' from the crisis.

Even with a desire to line up a successor soon, it wouldn't be a surprise or a disaster if no one is in place by Mr Obama's inauguration on Jan 20, said Mr Stanley.

'There are plenty of very competent people in the higher ranks at the New York Fed. Mr Geithner wasn't doing everything himself,' he said.

'Not that there wouldn't be a void, but it would be difficult but not disastrous to have an interim New York Fed president for a couple of months,' Mr Stanley added. -- REUTERS