Turkey Appoints First Female Central Bank Governor

Turkey's recently re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed former Wall Street executive Hafize Gaye Erkan as the central bank governor as part of his attempts to overhaul his economic team.

Erkan, a former co-CEO of First Republic Bank and managing director at Goldman Sachs, will become the first woman to lead the central bank, reports Arab News.

Erkan was the first woman under the age of 40 to hold the title of president or CEO at one of America’s 100 largest banks.

She has a doctorate in financial engineering from Princeton, and previously worked as First Republic’s co-chief executive officer. She abruptly resigned from that position in December 2021 before the bank was sold.

Last year, she was appointed CEO of the real estate finance and investment firm Greystone, a post she resigned in December.

Following her new appointment, there are now 23 female central bank governors around the world.

On Monday, Erkan reportedly met Turkiye’s newly appointed Treasury and Finance Minister, Mehmet Simsek, a former Merrill Lynch economist, in Ankara to discuss her new role.

Simsek told media that Turkiye would now return to economic “rationality” with a “credible program” to address the cost-of-living crisis. However, he also warned there would be “no shortcuts or quick fixes” and asked the public to be patient.

Economists believe that Erkan’s appointment may indicate that Turkiye will now follow orthodox economic policies, including interest rate hikes.

Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of London-based Teneo Intelligence, thinks that “an outright and fast pivot toward a conventional policy set, especially in terms of monetary policy, remains unlikely.”

He told Arab News: “Erkan’s appointment seems designed to regain credibility in the eyes of foreign investors. But how she will adapt to Ankara’s working culture, where obedience matters, remains to be seen. Also, Erkan has no formal monetary policy experience.

“The appointments are important, but the next crucial step should be the decisions,” he said.