Lee Nominates BIS Official Hyun Song Shin as BOK Governor, Cautious on Stablecoins

President Lee Jae-myung on March 22 nominated Hyun Song Shin, 67, head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements, to be the next governor of the Bank of Korea. The nomination comes ahead of incumbent Governor Rhee Chang-yong’s term ending on April 20.

At a briefing, Lee Gyu-yeon, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said Shin has served as a professor at Princeton University and worked at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He described Shin as a global authority on international finance and macroeconomics with both academic depth and practical insight.

Lee added that Shin is the right person to pursue the monetary-policy goals of price stability and economic growth at a time when the Middle East conflict has added to uncertainty in the global economy.

Shin will be formally appointed after a confirmation hearing in the National Assembly. The BOK governor serves a four-year term and may be reappointed once. The governor also chairs the central bank’s Monetary Policy Board.

Shin is also considered an expert on central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. He has taken a cautious stance on stablecoins, saying they would be difficult to keep at a one-to-one value in a crisis.

Noh Jeong-dong, Hankyung.com reporter dong2@hankyung.com