The Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia is the chief executive of Malaysia's central bank and the ex-officio chairperson of its Central Board of Directors. Malaysian ringgit currency notes, issued by the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM), bear the governor's signature. Since its establishment in 1959, the BNM has been headed by 10 governors.
Section 15 (1) of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009 states that the Governor is appointed by Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Supreme Head of Malaysia whilst the Deputy Governor is appointed by the Finance Minister. Section 15 (4) of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009 states that the term of office typically runs for 5 years for the Governor and 3 years for the Deputy Governor, both eligible for reappointment.
The 10th and current Governor is Shaik Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour, who took over from Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus on 1 July 2023.
List of the governors
No. Governor Term of office Minister of Finance IMF Managing Director WBG President Term start Term end Time in office 1 W. H. Wilcock 26 January 1959 July 1962 3 years Henry Lee Hau-shik Tan Siew Sin Per Jacobsson Eugene R. Black, Sr. 2 Ismail Mohamed Ali July 1962 July 1980 18 years Tan Siew Sin Abdul Razak Hussein Hussein Onn Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah Per Jacobsson Pierre-Paul Schweitzer Johan Witteveen Jacques de Larosière Eugene R. Black, Sr. George D. Woods Robert McNamara 3 Abdul Aziz Taha July 1980 June 1985 5 years Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah Daim Zainuddin Jacques de Larosière Robert McNamara Alden W. Clausen 4 Jaffar Hussein June 1985 May 1994 9 years Daim Zainuddin Anwar Ibrahim Jacques de Larosière Michel Camdessus Alden W. Clausen Barber Conable Lewis T. Preston 5 Ahmad Mohd Don May 1994 August 1998 4 years Anwar Ibrahim Michel Camdessus Lewis T. Preston James Wolfensohn 6 Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman September 1998 1 April 2000 2 years Anwar Ibrahim Mahathir Mohamad Daim Zainuddin Michel Camdessus James Wolfensohn 7 Zeti Akhtar Aziz 1 May 2000 28 April 2016 Daim Zainuddin Mahathir Mohamad Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Mohd. Najib Abdul Razak Horst Köhler Rodrigo Rato Dominique Strauss-Kahn Christine Lagarde James Wolfensohn Paul Wolfowitz Robert Zoellick Jim Yong Kim 8 Muhammad Ibrahim 1 May 2016 30 June 2018 Mohd. Najib Abdul Razak Lim Guan Eng Christine Lagarde Jim Yong Kim 9 Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus 1 July 2018 30 June 2023 Lim Guan Eng Tengku Zafrul Aziz Anwar Ibrahim Christine Lagarde Kristalina Georgieva Jim Yong Kim David Malpass 10 1 July 2023 Incumbent Anwar Ibrahim Kristalina Georgieva David Malpass Ajay Banga
References