WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

In a bipartisan vote of 85-12, senators approved Powell to lead the central bank in a term of four years. Powell is to succeed current Fed chair Janet Yellen when her terms expires on Feb. 3.

Powell who is currently a member of the Fed' s Board of Governors, was nominated by President Donald Trump in November last year.

At his confirmation hearing in November last year, Powell said that he would support the central bank to gradually tighten monetary policy, while ease regulatory burdens on some financial institutions.

A native Washingtonian, Powell received an A.B. in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1979.

He previously served as undersecretary at the Treasury Department in the George H.W. Bush administration, with responsibility for policy on financial institutions and the Treasury debt market.

Following the public service, he became a partner at the Carlyle Group from 1997 through 2005. He was nominated by the President Barack Obama as Fed governor in 2012.

Market investors widely expected that Powell' s Fed could ensure the continuity of the monetary policy while might fine-tune current financial regulations.