Former governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, was awarded the William “Bill” Seidman Award for Lifetime Achievement in Leadership in the Financial Services Industry for 2018, at The Asian Banker Future of Finance Summit 2018 at Aman Summer Palace on 23rd May 2018.
The guest of honour at the Leadership Achievement Awards Ceremony and Dinner was Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and was attended by about 100 top banking and financial industry executives from across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Zeti is recognised by the Council of Advisors of The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award Programme for her lifetime achievements and contributions to shaping Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) into an independent and respected regulatory authority and the development of the financial services industry in Malaysia.
She is one of the most highly regarded and respected bank regulators to hail from Asia. She was the first woman to serve as the central bank governor of her country and is the second longest serving, a position which she held for 16 years from 2000 until her retirement in 2016.
Her strong economics background helped her in guiding the macroeconomic policy of her country to benefit from its potential as a robust and sustainable fast developing country. She showed wisdom and a deep sense of understanding of both the economy and the way in which it was tied to the world.
She received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in monetary and international economics in 1978 She began her career as an economic analyst for the South-East Asia Central Bank Training & Research Center, from 1979 to 1984. She was then appointed deputy manager of the economics department at Bank Negara Malaysia before she assumed the governor position in 2000.
She was appointed at BNM at a time when the country itself had made a decision to impose currency controls to be shielded from the devastating effects of a global capital flows that went awry and caused the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
In her final tenure as governor, Zeti demonstrated wisdom and fortitude in defending the institution of the central bank as a pillar of a promising economy. So well regarded and highly respected is she as a fiercely independent and deeply experienced policy maker that she was recently appointed as a member in the Council of Elders.
She is serving as advisor on economic and financial matters to the new coalition government that won a surprising victory in the 2018 general elections during the transition period.
Her achievements have set a high-water mark for all leaders who will be put in a similar position of trust around the world.
