Washington - William Dudley, a long-time US Federal Reserve official, was named Tuesday to succeed Timothy Geithner as the chair of the central bank's New York branch.

Dudley, 56, will head the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which implements the Fed's monetary policy on Wall Street and is one of 12 regional branches of the US central bank.

Geithner, who had led the New York Fed since 2003, was picked by President Barack Obama to head the Treasury Department. He was sworn in as US Treasury Secretary on Monday.