BOK governor nominee: Shin Hyun-song, BIS monetary and economic department director, tapped—‘conservative on stablecoins’

President Lee Jae-myung on the 22nd nominated Shin Hyun-song, 67, director of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as the next governor of the Bank of Korea (BOK). The move comes as BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong’s term ends on the 20th of next month.

At a briefing that day, Ryu Yeon, senior presidential secretary for public relations at Cheong Wa Dae, said, “The nominee has worked not only as a professor at Princeton University in the United States but also at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,” adding that he is “a world-renowned authority in international finance and macroeconomics, with both academic depth and practical insight.”

He particularly stressed that Shin is “the right person to simultaneously achieve monetary policy objectives of price stability and growth in the national economy at a time when uncertainty in the global economy has increased further due to the Middle East situation.”

Shin will be formally appointed after a parliamentary confirmation hearing. The term is four years, with one reappointment possible. The BOK governor concurrently serves as chair of the Monetary Policy Board.

Shin is also regarded as having expertise in central bank digital currency (CBDC). On stablecoins, he takes a conservative stance, saying it is “difficult to maintain a 1-to-1 value in a crisis.”

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