Zeti Akhtar Aziz

Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia

“I have never encountered gender bias. When you demonstrate you have capacity, people take you seriously.”

At the height of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, Dr. Zeti became the Governor of the Central Bank. She provided crucial guidance and argued for policy reforms that spared Malaysia from severe economic damage and transformed its financial sector. As the first woman Governor of the Bank, she has won international recognition for her leadership and intellect. She seeks to promote sustainable development in Malaysia that maintains Islamic values while attracting international capital. Zeti has played a significant role in introducing common standards for Islamic finance across the Muslim world. She is committed to making sure that economic growth proceeds in a way that embraces Islamic principles of compassion and cooperation. She has moved through her career (from her first assignment as an economic analyst at a banking research center to becoming Deputy Manager at the Central Bank) with a clear expectation that hard work and merit would be rewarded without gender bias. Lifelong exposure to a mother who was a career journalist and authored books on Malay culture may have helped to convince her that she would be judged on her merits.